Blankbottle Moment of Silence, Wellington, South Africa
From critically-acclaimed South African winemaker Pieter H. Walser. Pieter explains when he first established the basic premise of the concept. “In 2004, a lady came to my house to buy wine. She asked for anything but Shiraz. “I don’t drink Shiraz”, were her exact words. I poured her a glass of wine. She loved it and bought 3 cases. It was a straight Shiraz. It’s a fact – we do judge the book by its cover.” And so was born the idea of a range of wines that has no limitations when it comes to style, vintage, area or grape varieties
Bonfire Hill Extreme Vinyards, Western Cape, South Africa
Winemaker Trizanne Barnard has years of international winemaking experience. Her passion lies in the Western Cape, making wines sourced from the most extreme vineyards and blending them to perfection.
Trizanne seeks out grapes from wind-ravaged vineyards in Elim, the old expanses of the Overberg Highlands, from dryland bush vines in the warm Swartland and from the high slopes of the Piekernierskloof. They then all come together under Trizanne’s watchful eye to create wines full of flavour, tannin and texture.
South African Mixed Case
A mixed case of 6 South African wines – 3 reds and 3 white
- Sauvignon Blanc ‘Enita’, Niel Joubert, Paarl
- Grenache Blanc, Piekenierskloof, Swartland
- Chenin Blanc ‘Moment of Silence’, Blankbottle, Wellington
- Pinotage, Du Plevaux, Stellenbosch
- Red Secateurs, Badenhorst, Swartland
- Cabernet Franc, Raats, Stellenbosch
Secateurs, Shiraz
One often hears wine merchants saying that winemakers like to let the wines speak for themselves. Well, Adi’s wines would be lucky to get a word in edgeways! He is a fast-talking, quick-witted, warm-hearted kind of guy who aims to produce wines with bags of personality. If you want to drink wines with soul that were made using gut feel rather than technical recipes, then this is definitely where you should be focusing your attention.
Today, Swartland is among the most exciting up-and-coming wine regions in the world – it’s extremely old bush vines attracting the attention of some of South Africa’s most pioneering winemakers. Adi took over this ancient winery in the Paardeberg district, utilising his 35 hectares of mature, dryfarmed bush vines to produce a range of grapes.
Chenin Blanc, ‘Releaf’, Western Cape
A self-empowerment project, ‘Releaf’ project symbolises the true meaning of sustainability and harmony within nature. Sustainable agriculture is used in order to cultivate 100% hand harvested, organically grown grapes that are used to produce two separate cuvées. Every effort has been made to ensure this wine is as eco-friendly as possible, down to the fact it is packaged using partially recycled glass and is labelled with recycled paper and sustainable ink.
A portion of the proceeds of the Imbuko Releaf wine goes towards supporting the Imbuko Schools Support Project – through which the estate supports a number of children in education by funding scholarships to local schools.
Pinot Noir, Iona, Mr P, Elgin
At 420m above sea-level, set high above the picturesque Elgin Valley Andrew Gunn founded Iona. It is here overlooking the Atlantic ocean that he has secured some of the coolest vineyards in the Cape.
In a country where cool climate vineyards are like gold dust, these vineyards are veritable nuggets. There is an extremely long growing season, allowing Andrew to create wines with complex flavours and a fresh, elegant style. The approach is hands off and the land is farmed according to organic and biodynamic practices with a particular focus on ensuring the health of the soils whilst pests are kept under control by the resident flock of geese that roam the vineyards.
Mr P, is a “Pinot for the people”, showing all the characteristics of classic, high quality Pinot Noir at an affordable price, making use of younger vines and older barrels with careful and dedicated wine making.
