It was in the early 1970s Neil Ellis who “discovered” the vineyard potential of Darling . He was a junior winemaker at the KWV at the time and was fascinated by the fruit and structure of the grapes coming in from Darling. In his pioneering fashion he went of in search of the holy grail, first bringing in fruit for his newly established winery and then in the mid 1990’s buying his first vineyard in Darling. It was Niel also who inspired the demarcation of the “Groenekloof” ward within the Darling region, a unique band of vineyards that runs almost parallel to the Atlantic ocean
