Luca and Ingrid Bein

A Swiss couple in Stellenbosch producing wine born from passion. Committed to quality without any compromise! After 20 years of stolen visits to the sunny South African shores, we finally succumbed to our love and bought a plot deep in the heart of the Winelands, called Petrus Place. And it wasn't long after, that we shut up shop as veterinary doctors in Switzerland and put down our roots in the rich African soil for once and for all.

With wine as an everlasting passion, we decided to go back to University--two unlikely students--attending lectures at the renowned University of Stellenbosch, where we were each awarded B.Sc. degrees in viticulture and oenology. Finally in 2002, we produced our very own wine from the deep, granite rich soil of Petrus Place. From the outset, we intended to produce an excellent wine. Naturally limited to exclusive quantities, it should express best possibly its true origin - variety, locality, vintage. Best described as a non-conformist wine, our Merlot is the product of hands-on love and a single plot vineyard, which allows for optimum expression of the terroir.  

In the cellar, emphasis is laid on the gentle treatment of the fruit, from handpicking to modern extraction methods and pressing by means of a basket press. Malolactic fermentation and further maturation takes place in small oak barrels selected from top French cooperages. And not a single process goes untouched by us.