Our Story
The making of a legend
A cannon on a hill, a family with deep roots, and a century of red wine excellence.
Our Story
A cannon on a hill, a family with deep roots, and a century of red wine excellence.
Chapter One
Five custodians of the cellar since 1973 — from Jan Boland Coetzee to Francois and Dirk van Zyl.
Chapter Two
Paul Sauer, four generations of lineage, the Krige brothers — and the next generation.
Chapter Three
Viticulture, open fermenters, and certified sustainable production.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, a cannon on a kopje (hillock) of the Simonsberg was fired whenever a trading ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The boom rolled down the valleys, telling farmers it was time to load their wagons and set off to barter produce in Table Bay. That hill gave our farm its name — and our wines their voice.
Timeline
Kanonkop has been in the same family for four generations — from Paul Sauer to today's custodians, brothers Johann and Paul Krige.
The farm's origins trace to the early Cape, on the lower slopes of the Simonsberg — granite soils destined for greatness.
Statesman JW Sauer acquires the property; his son Paul Sauer becomes the estate's foundational figure and namesake of our flagship wine.
Jan "Boland" Coetzee bottles the maiden Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon — the estate speaks with its own voice at last.
The Bordeaux-style blend that would become one of the most decorated wines in the Southern Hemisphere honours the man who built the estate's reputation.
Beyers Truter is named international winemaker of the year — the world learns what Stellenbosch already knew.
From bush vines planted in 1953, the estate releases South Africa's definitive icon Pinotage.
Brothers Johann and Paul Krige steward the farm. Head Winemaker Francois van Zyl — whose mind was blown by a glass of the 1991 Paul Sauer — took the cellar keys from Abrie Beeslaar in November 2024.
The Legends
Our terroir was shaped not only by soil and climate, but by the people who pruned, picked and pressed here for a lifetime.
The People of Kanonkop
“The farm was always, and still is, a place where a worker gets the sense that they are looked after.”
Cellar legend Frikkie Elias started here in 1971 and mentored two generations of winemakers. Farm foreman Jan Hendriks has given the vineyards nearly four decades. Profit-sharing reaches every member of the team — a philosophy as old as the community hall and sports teams Jan Boland founded in the 1970s.
Meet the estate in pictures