Nestled in the McGreggor valley is a little place of shade under the old, wild fig tree where you can find Heavenly Chaos. The place is Tanagra Wine & Guest Farm. The name Tanagra has some interesting references, both for the Khoisan as a well-shaded place, but also in Ancient Greece. It is here where a wonderful blend of Heavenly Chaos is created.
This lovely boutique vineyard was established in 1862 and is now owned by Robert and Annette Rosenbach. They took over the farm in March 2009 when they exchanged life in Germany for village life in McGreggor with their 3 cats. They came from the Moselle area in Germany. An area dominated by winemaking where Annette’s grandfather cultivated grapes. In their previous lives, Robert was a business consultant and Annette a Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Paderborn (2006-2009)). Annette is still involved in linguistics and in 2017 she was appointed as extraordinary researcher at the UPSET Research Unit of North-West University. She is currently collaborating with Johanita Kirsten (North-West University) on a comparative study of genitive variation in English and Afrikaans.

Dylan and Million take care of the farm, the vineyards and the hiking trails.
Annemarie and Erica take pride in cleaning the guest cottages and doing the laundry.
Marq keeps the garden tidy and clean.
In their first 8 months on the farm, they renovated various units to turn Tanagra into a guest farm. This was part of the plan to fulfil their dream to share their love of wine, food and nature. Creating their own little piece of heaven in the Breede Valley, near Roberston.
Combining passion and nature to create a piece of heaven
Their love for nature is echoed in how they approach winemaking and subsequently farming. Devoted to the natural approach to wine-making, Tanagra’s philosophy is guided by the principle of ‘minimal interference’. They use traditional methods of winemaking. These include natural yeasts (no enzymes added) and whole berry fermentation while maturing their wines in neutral vessels. All this helps to retain the natural & distinct character of Tanagra’s single-vineyard wines. No animal-based products are used in their wines, making them vegan-friendly. Likewise, vineyard management is minimally invasive. They use as many organic components like mulching, organic fertilizer and cover crop as possible.
Heavenly Chaos from Tanagra
Heavenly Chaos is a very special blend. It is not ‘designed’, but instead consists of Merlot and whatever is left in the barrels after bottling their other wines. This attests to the chaos reference in the name. Subsequently, it is also slightly different every year, although always led by the (single vineyard) Merlot it is based on. The vineyard is south facing and borders Vrolijkheid Nature Reserve. It has both sandy and clay soil and is registered as a single vineyard. This lovely wine has tastes of blue & blackberries with a slightly herbal afternote. It is deliciously smooth & juicy as well as dry, with big fruit flavours and soft tannins.
This delicious blend goes well in summer or winter. It can be enjoyed at a lower temperature than more full-bodied wines. The 2019 vintage consists of Merlot (41%), Cabernet Franc (41%) and Cabernet Sauvignon (18%). In contrast to their other red wines, which are all very bold, the Heavenly Chaos is somewhat lighter in style. This is mostly due to the Merlot being a ‘lighter’ style of cultivar. As such, the Heavenly Chaos is a perfect summer or lunch red wine. It can be enjoyed at a slightly cooler temperature than bolder red wines (at around 15-16 degrees Celsius). It is perfect to enjoy now or within (at least) the next 6-7 years.
This gorgeous wine goes well with so many amazing dishes. We’d love to share some of our favourites with you below.

