- Iona Wines was established by Andrew Gunn in 1997 in the Elgin Valley; with his engineering background, he thought he'd come to make his millions in apple farming, but he was wrong.
- Known as the Vuil Plaas (Dirty Farm), due to its neglected state, Iona proved to be cooler than the rest of the Elgin Valley and uniquely suited to vines in a valley that had made a name for itself on apples.
- Since 1997, Iona has evolved into a prolific Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc producer, making a strong case for Elgin as a wine-growing region and one of the founders of the Wines of Elgin collective that today drives winemaking in the valley.
"The biggest threat to winemaking in the Elgin Valley is apples." - Werner Muller, Iona Winemaker.
Apples are big business in Elgin, a more economically viable crop, perfectly suited to the rich soils and cool climate of the area (Where do you think Appletiser comes from? There's even an Appletiser Road here). Most of the historic Elgin wine producers are also big apple farmers (see Paul Cluver and Oak Valley), as indeed was Iona before it was Iona. There are around 6 000ha planted to orchards (apples and pears) in Elgin as opposed to the estimated 600 to 700ha to vine - which should give you a rough idea as to what makes more money here.
Geelbeksvlei, the original Iona farm, was owned by George Irvin - the "I" in I&J - South Africa's famous fishing company. It makes sense, given that at 450m above sea level and only 3km from the ocean, you only have to drive (or walk) a short way over the koppie to the Kogelberg Nature Reserve to get an eyeful of the Cape south coast in all its splendour. From that vantage point, I imagine ou oom George could keep an eye on his fleet of fishing boats from Gordon's Bay to Betty's Bay.
In 1936, the government expropriated the land from George to plant pine trees. They needed a forest to supply the construction industry, and he was allowed to keep 1 000 paces by 1 000 paces of land.
The story goes that he went to Grabouw to find the tallest man he could find to pace it out and was left with 100ha in the heart of the Kogelberg Nature Reserve. Today, the lapsed pine forest presents a fire hazard due to illegal forestry activities. In fact, they just survived another wildfire since I visited two weeks ago, making one question the government's decision to leave the land wild given all the opportunities available to it.
The farm still carries signs of the Irvins, like the Herbert Baker homestead, designed and built by the man himself in the early 1900s before he went on to influence the architecture of New Delhi in India.
It was lovingly restored by Andrew and his wife Rozy Gunn, an artist, winemaker and farmer in her own right. She is the owner of the Biodynamic Brocha Farm just down the mountain from Iona, and produces the One Man Band and Solace Syrah, though that's a story for another time. The couple are known for their love of architecture and have restored several homes around the world - an ode to Rozy's artistic background and Andrew's engineering logic.
Andrew is a first-generation South African. His parents came from the UK to settle in Pretoria, and he owned a very successful medical sutures company there, which he eventually sold in favour of a farm in the Western Cape in 1997.
It wasn't until he walked into the original Herbert Baker homestead at Geelbeksvlei, however, and spied the whole of the Elgin Valley lying spread out in front of him that he knew he could live here.
His engineering sensibilities also made a case for finding somewhere cooler than the likes of Franschhoek or Stellenbosch. Upon further inspection with Professor Eben Archer, they ascertained that Iona's location was habitually 3 to 4 degrees cooler than the rest of the Elgin basin, somewhere between Burgundy and Sancerre, with alluvial sandstone soils as opposed to the predominant Bokkeveld shale in the rest of the Valley.
They named it Iona in honour of Andrew's Scottish and Viking heritage where the first recorded landing of the Vikings took place in Scotland - Geelbeksvlei was not a name to trip off the tongue easily.
Jancis Robinson MW wrote in her book, Companion to Wine: "Great wines are grown in cool to intermediate climates." The statement that launched a thousand ships.
Since then, it has been ascertained that Elgin is, in fact, one of the coolest wine-producing districts in South Africa, with the Iona farm consistently performing well above that distinction given its vantage point and making a case for grape varieties that require long hang times and poorer soils, the perfect terroir for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc.
Which indeed is what Iona has become known for. The fact of the matter is that Elgin as a region is so fruitful (pun intended) that it makes a whole host of wines very well - from Merlot (Shannon) to Riesling (Lothian, Spioenkop, Oak Valley) and even Pinotage (Spioenkop) - something that still hampers producers in defining their production, and by extension, their identity.
Though if you ask winemaker Werner Muller, he'd plant the whole thing to Chardonnay and call it a day, which, if you've tasted their two single vineyard Chardonnays, the Kloof and the Fynbos Chardonnay, you'll see what he means.
While converting from apples to vines back in the late 1990s, Andrew sold a portion of the original farm to Tokara, the money with which he continued to replace orchards with vines (the last orchards were removed in 2016) today and build a winery, totalling around 42ha to vine on the 65ha property, with over 100 people also living on the farm, some of the original families predate the Gunns.
They also rent and farm 16ha on the Lange Rug farm further down the valley, where they cultivate Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Nebbiolo (a remnant from a particularly joyful trip to Northern Italy). The Lange Rug farm supplies their bigger production, commercial wines, including the Sophie Terblance Sauvignon Blanc and Ros , and the Mr P Pinot Noir (one of the first accessibly priced South African Pinot Noirs on the market when it first made its appearance in 2014), and soon to be joined by a Chardonnay says Werner (obviously).
The Gunns make a winning case for blended families. Andrew has five children, including Rozy's two younger daughters from her previous marriage (her husband tragically passed in a car accident) and has been married to three women in his life.
Today, Andrew's grandson Nik Siimes from New Zealand (the son of his firstborn daughter Sirpa) is taking over the viticultural aspects of the farm while completing a PhD in Wine Science at Auckland University in New Zealand and at the tender age of 26, has already done nine harvests around the world.
Son-in-law, Rob MacDonald from South London (who married his third daughter Jess), moved their young family to the farm officially in October of 2024 to learn from Andrew who turns 76 this year, as operations manager. Thus, a rich legacy plan in place to assume responsibility for this extraordinary stretch of land, its vines, and people.
Of their wines, they currently produce three ranges, including the Sophie range (Terblanche Sauvignon, Ros and Le Rouge) (R115 a bottle), Mr P Pinot Noir (R187.50) and Nebbiolo (R212), soon to be joined by a Chardonnay. Then, the Iona range, consisting of a Sauvignon Blanc (R194), a Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc (R282), Chardonnay (R405) and Pinot Noir (R405) from what they call the Elgin Highlands, and finally, the Single Vineyard range, composed of two Single Vineyard Chardonnay (R650) and Pinot Noir (R650) each, representing the pinnacle of their production.
The Kloof Chardonnay and Kroon Pinot Noir are consistently rated among the top wines in their category. Christian Eedes recently rated the newly released Kloof Chardonnay 2023 96 points and wrote: "From a site on quartz. Subtle and alluring aromatics of pear, peach, lime, green apple and fynbos with some smoky reduction in the background. The palate is linear and tight - lovely clarity of fruit and fresh acidity before a super-dry finish. A triumph given the difficulties of the vintage. Alc: 12.5%."
2023 represented a challenging growing season in the area due to unusually high rainfall in February and March, affecting the Pinot Noir the worst and resulting in no single vineyard Pinot Noirs produced in 2023.
Though it is their Sauvignon Blanc that forms the backbone and sure-thing-everyday wine in the Iona portfolio, a sophisticated expression benefitting from lifted fruit and balanced tension - if you're looking for a new house wine, the Iona Elgin Highlands Sauvignon Blanc is it.
We had lunch around their kitchen table, with various family members joining during the course of the afternoon, around a bottle of their maiden vintage Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 when they still thought the terroir screamed Bordeaux. If you taste this wine, though, you'd think it too - the Cabernet has since been uprooted in favour of Pinot Noir.
What struck me most was the appreciation this decidedly international blended family had for South African culture and history and the effort and care they are putting into doing their slice of it justice. While I hadn't met Andrew previously, it seemed like the arrival of Rob and Nik signals a renewed energy and purpose for the brand, and I, for one, look forward to seeing how they make it their own in the future.
For more information on Iona and to shop their wines, visit their website here.
