Post House Wines

The homestead on Raithby Road between Somerset West and Stellenbosch once served a more civic purpose. Before it became one of the Helderberg's most distinctive small wineries, the building operated as a post office for the local missionary community of Raithby. When Hermann Gebers bought the farm in 1981, the postal history was just a curiosity. But when his son Nick began planting vines in 1988 and the family needed a name for their wines, the connection was too good to ignore.

Nick Gebers made his first experimental barrels in 1996. Two vintages later, after a formative stint in Burgundy learning old-world technique, the first Post House wines were released — and they immediately stood apart. Where most South African reds of the era chased fruit and accessibility, Gebers went in the opposite direction. He fermented with natural yeasts, pressed in a traditional basket press, and refused to fine or filter. The result was wines of extraordinary colour and concentration — Post House quickly earned a reputation for producing possibly the darkest-coloured wines in South Africa.

The naming convention is pure philately. Each wine takes its name from a famous stamp or stamp-collecting term, reflecting the property's postal heritage. The Penny Black, named after the world's first adhesive postage stamp, is a five-variety Bordeaux-style blend that has earned 4.5 stars in the John Platter Wine Guide. The Blueish Black — a catalogue term for a stamp that should have been black but has blue undertones — is a bold blend of Shiraz, Pinotage, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The Missing Virgin references a famous printing error on a Virgin Islands stamp where the image of Saint Ursula was accidentally omitted. Other wines in the range include the Merry Widow, Golden Monkey, and Treskilling Yellow — each name a story from the world of rare stamps.

Across the full range of sixteen wines, Gebers works with an impressive palette of varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz, Pinotage, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Grenache, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Verdelho, and Noble Late Harvest, along with carefully assembled Bordeaux and red blends, a white blend, and a Rose. The breadth is remarkable for an estate of this size, but Gebers is a winemaker who follows his curiosity and his vineyards rather than market convention.

The Raithby ward, tucked between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch Mountain, provides deep red soils and a warmer mesoclimate that suits the estate's house style of generous, richly textured reds. Visitors are welcomed Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:30 and Saturday mornings until 13:00 for tastings in the intimate tasting room. It is the kind of place where you are likely to meet the winemaker himself — Nick Gebers remains the owner, farmer, and sole winemaker, three decades into a quiet career of making some of Stellenbosch's most individual wines.