Wonderfontein Wine Estate today is home to the fifth generation Marais with Paul René Marais and his family continuing the proud family tradition of quality grape cultivation and the production of noble hand-crafted wines and brandy.

Our family has its roots in a great, great grandfather by the name of Ernest Marais, son of French Hugenot, Charles Marais. His son , Kowie Marais was an innovative individual and true pioneer . In 1889 the Director - General of Waterworks, C. Claassens, referred to Kowie's uncompromising role in t he design and building of the Brandvlei dam with the words, "Mr. Kowie Marais, a farmer in the community, was one of South Africa's natural engineers".

The tradition of blending mature stock brandy was carried further by Kowie Marais and his sons Eksteen and Kosie. Not only is Wonderfontein the birthplace of Campanile and Klipdrift brandy, but also boasts one of the oldest Agricultural Distillers licences in South Africa (1884). Today this wine, fortified wine and spirit legacy lives forth in the fifth Marais generation.

Kowie Marais's son, Eksteen, not only made wine, dessert wine and brandy; he also grew his own rice, studied veterinary science and made his own bricks to build most of the buildings on the farm. He over-engineered most things, like the small bridge where you enter the farm. This was an 8 ton bridge and today carries 40 ton interlinks.

His son Paul is the current owner and took the reigns when he was only 21 years of age. He has led tremendous productive innovation but sadly lost his son Eksteen Marais in 2005 at the tender age of 21. Eksteen's vision and high standards led to the development of a specialized maturation cellar on Wonderfontein. From a young age Paul learnt to do everything himself and built a motorbike from a lawnmower engine and wheelbarrow wheels when his dad gave him a welding machine on his thirteenth birthday.