Dewaldt Heyns Family Wines emerged from Dewaldt’s lifelong desire to make wines that reflect the region he has known his whole life – the Swartland. In another way, however, the story of these wines begins when Dewaldt’s grandfather, Jan Heyns, bought a small little farm in the Paardeberg, Swartland – the harsh land that requires such honesty and humility of its people. After his unexpected passing, Dewaldt’s father, Cecil Heyns – only 19 years old at the time – was suddenly responsible for running the farm. So began 52 years of farming on Uitvlug.
Building up this modest little grape farm in the Joubertskloof over a period of five decades, experiencing all the cycles the industry went through since the early sixties well into the post-1994 era, certainly kept him busy. At the same time, Cecil and his wife Corrie were raising a family as well; no easy task with three boys and a girl. However, Dewaldt claims to be the best behaved and most handsome of the lot. Growing up, this grape farm was the centre of Dewaldt’s universe. It shaped him to love the land and ignited his eventual career as winemaker.
