Not long ago, Franschhoek was something of a vinous backwater, a town too far in terms of winelands tourism. Then a few dynamic members of its retirement community began a process that transformed the fruit-farming lifestyle of the older residents.

The prime mover in this process was the late Michael Trull, who sold his interests in an advertising agency in about 1980 and settled on La Bri, one of the many beautiful properties in the valley.

He was the first of many escapees from the advertising industry who chose to make the town his base. He launched the Vignerons de Franschhoek (even though there were virtually no wine producers in the area). He also arranged with the local co-op to process his grapes and to return the bottled wine to him on the property, labelled with the La Bri name.

This set-up fell foul of the Wine and Spirit Board, which objected to the implication that this was estate wine (for which the grapes would have to have been processed on the property). Trull responded that La Bri was a brand name and the board could not prevent him from using it to sell his wine. He was confident that the contents of the bottle derived entirely from his own grapes - though this could not be proven. Since the board was not prepared (or even allowed by law) to certify it as such, he would remove all references to his own vineyards. There followed an unhappy truce - made all the less comfortable by many other fruit growers emulating Trull's example.

Since the early 1980s, much has changed - of which the establishment of wineries throughout the valley is one of the most obvious manifestations. In Trull's day, except for a few high-profile cellars of which two are closer to Paarl than Franschhoek (Boschendal and L'Ormarins), the co-op was just about the only place crushing grapes in the valley. Today there are more than 20 cellars, and while not all of them depend on Franschhoek fruit, the appellation is firmly established.

It is therefore peculiarly appropriate that Robin Hamilton, the owner of La Bri, has finally established a winery on the farm. From the 2007 vintage onwards, the La Bri wines have been produced there. Just over a year ago Marius Lategan - who spent the past decade at Morgenster - joined La Bri. His first vintage there was the 2009 and although he was focused on red wines at Morgenster, he has turned out to be a dab hand at making chardonnay. His first release has lovely creamy notes, limey, citrussy aromas, plenty of texture on the palate and the promise of a quite Burgundian evolution. (Incidentally, the La Bri 2006 Affinity blend, which precedes this revolution, has fine, quite silky tannins, some graphite rather than blackcurrant notes and real, classically styled elegance.)

Though La Bri is on the valley floor - where the alluvial soils tend to encourage excessive vigour - none of the wines I tasted lacked definition. The 2008 Merlot, while perhaps a little too delicate, was more attractive than most of the Cape's current releases. With some of the region's more successful vineyards established on soils like these - Glenwood makes very plush chardonnay and Eikehof has a wonderful semillon - La Bri looks set to join a growing band of serious Franschhoek producers.

It will find itself in the kind of company even Trull could not have predicted. The valley produces some very fine wines - Mont Rochelle's Miko Chardonnay, Lynx's Xanache, the top La Motte Shiraz cuvées (some of which come from the Franschhoek property), and Boekenhoutkloof's (unobtainable) The Journeyman. Chamonix - further up the slopes than most of the town's producers - makes a truly Burgundian statement with its superb chardonnays and pinot noirs. Both are worth tracking down - and handsomely repay a few years' bottle maturation. One glimpse of what Franschhoek's vineyards are now yielding and it is clear that the appellation has graduated beyond the hype of visionary copywriters.

From Business Day, 14 July 2010