I'm often asked why an English vineyard in the Sussex Weald would have anything to do with a wine estate on the southern tip of Africa. Usually it's put to me kindly, as in "that must be wonderful, chasing two summers a year." Occasionally it's put less kindly, as in "that sounds like an expensive way to complicate the winemaking."
Both are fair. Both are also true.
Why Leonardslee Keeps a Sister Estate on the Other Side of the World
Leonardslee Family Vineyardssits in a valley in West Sussex. Its sister estate,Benguela Cove, sits on a lagoon in Walker Bay, on the southern tip of South Africa. The two properties are almost exact opposites in latitude, separated by the equator, the Atlantic, and roughly five months of growing season. When it's harvest time at one, it's the middle of the growing year at the other.
Our Cellarmaster, Johann Fourie, works across both. He picks Chardonnay at Leonardslee in October and Sauvignon Blanc at Benguela Cove in February. In effect, he follows the same route as the swallow, the small bird that has made this exact journey between Sussex woodland and the South African summer for far longer than either of us has been making wine.
The Case for Making Wine in Two Hemispheres
Conventional wisdom in this industry says you pick one place and you learn it deeply. A second estate, especially one in a different hemisphere, tends to be seen as a distraction, or worse, a vanity project.
I'd argue the opposite is true for us.
When Johann checks the vines at Leonardslee in October, he's reading the outcome of decisions made months earlier and thousands of miles away, in entirely different soil and weather. Some of that thinking carries over. Some doesn't. Running both estates means nothing can be taken for granted; every instinct gets tested against a completely different climate before it's trusted again.
Sussex has taught him patience. England's growing season can be generous one year and unforgiving the next, and a Chardonnay block that ripened beautifully last October might need another fortnight this year. The only sensible response is to wait for the fruit, not the calendar.
Walker Bay, by contrast, has taught him precision. The Benguela current keeps the South African coastline steadier and more predictable than an English summer ever is. But that same site brings its own demands, cool nights, salt air, and a lagoon close enough to shape the fruit, all requiring exact attention so the wine tastes unmistakably of that one place.
Between the two, I believe he has become a sharper winemaker than either estate could have made him alone. He'd probably agree, if you caught him at the right moment.
Two Landscapes, the Same Stillness
There's a second reason for keeping two estates, and it has nothing to do with the wine itself.
Leonardslee's gardenswere laid out in the 1880s by a Victorian botanist who brought rhododendrons back from expeditions across the world. Walk through in May and you'll find magnolias and azaleas growing side by side that exist nowhere else on earth in that combination. The lakes were dug by hand. The wallabies still grazing the lawns descend from a colony first introduced in 1889.
Benguela Cove is younger as an estate but far older in geological terms. Its fynbos belongs to the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest and most botanically dense of the world's six floral kingdoms, shaped over millennia by fire, sea, and careful management.
What both places share is a particular kind of stillness. Walk the Leonardslee gardens on an April morning and the rest of the world recedes. Sit on the slope above the lagoon at Benguela Cove with a glass of Pinot Noir and the same thing happens, seven thousand miles away. Guests at both estates tell us, often without quite meaning to, that something shifts in them while they're here.
What This Means If You Visit or Own With Us
Owners at Leonardslee are welcome at Benguela Cove, and the reverse holds too. It isn't a marketing perk so much as a natural consequence of how the two estates are structured. A small but growing number of people now move between the two through the year: South Africans who prefer an English July, English owners who spend February and March in the Cape autumn, and returning South Africans who like a foot in both worlds.
None of this was planned from the outset. It simply emerged, and it turns out to make good commercial sense too. Our off-season in Sussex is Benguela Cove's high season, and vice versa, so the wine club, the visiting list, and the cellar door experience at each estate quietly support the other all year round.
Tasting Both Sides of the Journey
The wine carries the evidence of this arrangement more clearly than anything I can write.Leonardslee's Blanc de Blancs and Brut Reserveowe some of their structure to techniques Johann sharpened while making Méthode Cap Classique in South Africa. Benguela Cove's Sauvignon Blanc, in turn, has a precision that traces back to cooler-climate winemaking in Sussex. Neither wine would taste quite the same if we'd stayed on one side of the equator.
This is the swallow's year. It's a harder way to run a wine business than staying in one place would be, but I think it's a more honest one, since it asks the wine to carry an actual place with it into the glass, twice over, rather than just once.
About the Author
Penny Streeter OBE is the founder of A24 Group, an international business spanning healthcare staffing, hospitality, and property across the UK, South Africa, the United States, and Australia. She owns Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, Mannings Heath Golf Club, and Leonardslee Family Vineyards in West Sussex, England, together with Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate in Walker Bay, South Africa. She splits her time between the two countries.
The Swallow's Year: Two Wine Estates, One Winemaker, 7,000 Miles Apart
By Penny Streeter OBE
I'm often asked why an English vineyard in the Sussex Weald would have anything to do with a wine estate on the southern tip of Africa. Usually it's put to me kindly, as in "that must be wonderful, chasing two summers a year." Occasionally it's put less kindly, as in "that sounds like an expensive way to complicate the winemaking."
Both are fair. Both are also true.
Why Leonardslee Keeps a Sister Estate on the Other Side of the World
Leonardslee Family Vineyards sits in a valley in West Sussex. Its sister estate, Benguela Cove, sits on a lagoon in Walker Bay, on the southern tip of South Africa. The two properties are almost exact opposites in latitude, separated by the equator, the Atlantic, and roughly five months of growing season. When it's harvest time at one, it's the middle of the growing year at the other.
Our Cellarmaster, Johann Fourie, works across both. He picks Chardonnay at Leonardslee in October and Sauvignon Blanc at Benguela Cove in February. In effect, he follows the same route as the swallow, the small bird that has made this exact journey between Sussex woodland and the South African summer for far longer than either of us has been making wine.
The Case for Making Wine in Two Hemispheres
Conventional wisdom in this industry says you pick one place and you learn it deeply. A second estate, especially one in a different hemisphere, tends to be seen as a distraction, or worse, a vanity project.
I'd argue the opposite is true for us.
When Johann checks the vines at Leonardslee in October, he's reading the outcome of decisions made months earlier and thousands of miles away, in entirely different soil and weather. Some of that thinking carries over. Some doesn't. Running both estates means nothing can be taken for granted; every instinct gets tested against a completely different climate before it's trusted again.
Sussex has taught him patience. England's growing season can be generous one year and unforgiving the next, and a Chardonnay block that ripened beautifully last October might need another fortnight this year. The only sensible response is to wait for the fruit, not the calendar.
Walker Bay, by contrast, has taught him precision. The Benguela current keeps the South African coastline steadier and more predictable than an English summer ever is. But that same site brings its own demands, cool nights, salt air, and a lagoon close enough to shape the fruit, all requiring exact attention so the wine tastes unmistakably of that one place.
Between the two, I believe he has become a sharper winemaker than either estate could have made him alone. He'd probably agree, if you caught him at the right moment.
Two Landscapes, the Same Stillness
There's a second reason for keeping two estates, and it has nothing to do with the wine itself.
Leonardslee's gardens were laid out in the 1880s by a Victorian botanist who brought rhododendrons back from expeditions across the world. Walk through in May and you'll find magnolias and azaleas growing side by side that exist nowhere else on earth in that combination. The lakes were dug by hand. The wallabies still grazing the lawns descend from a colony first introduced in 1889.
Benguela Cove is younger as an estate but far older in geological terms. Its fynbos belongs to the Cape Floral Kingdom, the smallest and most botanically dense of the world's six floral kingdoms, shaped over millennia by fire, sea, and careful management.
What both places share is a particular kind of stillness. Walk the Leonardslee gardens on an April morning and the rest of the world recedes. Sit on the slope above the lagoon at Benguela Cove with a glass of Pinot Noir and the same thing happens, seven thousand miles away. Guests at both estates tell us, often without quite meaning to, that something shifts in them while they're here.
What This Means If You Visit or Own With Us
Owners at Leonardslee are welcome at Benguela Cove, and the reverse holds too. It isn't a marketing perk so much as a natural consequence of how the two estates are structured. A small but growing number of people now move between the two through the year: South Africans who prefer an English July, English owners who spend February and March in the Cape autumn, and returning South Africans who like a foot in both worlds.
None of this was planned from the outset. It simply emerged, and it turns out to make good commercial sense too. Our off-season in Sussex is Benguela Cove's high season, and vice versa, so the wine club, the visiting list, and the cellar door experience at each estate quietly support the other all year round.
Tasting Both Sides of the Journey
The wine carries the evidence of this arrangement more clearly than anything I can write. Leonardslee's Blanc de Blancs and Brut Reserve owe some of their structure to techniques Johann sharpened while making Méthode Cap Classique in South Africa. Benguela Cove's Sauvignon Blanc, in turn, has a precision that traces back to cooler-climate winemaking in Sussex. Neither wine would taste quite the same if we'd stayed on one side of the equator.
If you'd like to taste it for yourself, book a cellar door experience or vineyard tour at Leonardslee, browse the full Leonardslee wine collection, or explore Benguela Cove's range from Walker Bay. For anyone wanting to make a longer stay of it, our luxury accommodation at Leonardslee and the Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens are both a short walk from the cellar.
This is the swallow's year. It's a harder way to run a wine business than staying in one place would be, but I think it's a more honest one, since it asks the wine to carry an actual place with it into the glass, twice over, rather than just once.
About the Author
Penny Streeter OBE is the founder of A24 Group, an international business spanning healthcare staffing, hospitality, and property across the UK, South Africa, the United States, and Australia. She owns Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, Mannings Heath Golf Club, and Leonardslee Family Vineyards in West Sussex, England, together with Benguela Cove Lagoon Wine Estate in Walker Bay, South Africa. She splits her time between the two countries.
Read more of Penny's reflections on her ventures, or explore Leonardslee's full story and sustainability journey.