Winemaker's notes...

Our Palomino is produced using the grapes from a traditional Spanish varietal planted here on Brakkuil farm back in 1978.

The vineyard at the foot of "Klein Tafelberg" (small Table Mountain) is comprised of limestone rich coastal soil - adding hugely to the Palomino's subtle notes of natural sea salt minerality.

During harvesting, the grapes are pressed and their juices inserted into tanks until primary fermentation has been successfully executed.

It is then when the veil starts its process for a couple of weeks to months. After this process the wine is transferred to French oak barrels and left for 6 to 12 months to reach maturity.

? John Bouwer, Winemaker

Another cracker from South Africa's master craftsman Duncan Savage. This is a blend of Cinsaut, Grenache and Syrah from Citrusdal Mountain in the Olifants River Valley, Western Cape. This is a pretty wine real depth and sees 70% whole clusters in the ferment. 

"The wine shows a real individuality and personality with bright fragrant violet perfume, sappy spicy peppery raspberry and redcurrant confit complexity, hints of sun raisined cranberries, cured bresaola, boiled raspberry sweets and wild strawberries. The palate weight is soft and sensual, combining the best of both Grenache and Cinsault to form an impressively harmonious, silky soft sappy red blend. The wine seems to grow exponentially in the glass, unfurling and unravelling to reveal layers of strawberry jam, raspberry compote and Turkish delight all framed with bright crystalline acids that really amplify the wines purity, minerality and sense of place.

Such a pretty wine with the sleekest and most polished tannins and a mellow fruit intensity. Despite its eminent drinkability in youth, this is no frivolous ?vin de soif? and could just maybe, over time, acquire a similar cult following to that of Duncan?s excellent Cinsault-dominated Follow The Line red from Darling. A very confident debut!" Drink from 2018 to 2028+. (93/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Supple, succulent and incredibly drinkable. This is a classic blend of southern French grape varieties, modelled on a Cotes du Rhone blend with Cinsault in the lead, contributing 54% towards this juicy red, supported by Shiraz and Grenache. 

Winemaker A A Badenhorst suggests that the Cinsault component will provide the structure for excellent ageing and enough suppleness for drinking young. Aromas here are perfumed, peppery, spicy and exhibit ripe red fruit flavours.

Dry, flinty South African Chenin Blanc with a twist; winemakers Vincent and Tania met when he was visiting her home in South Africa. They got married, returned to his homeland in France and now make small volumes of high quality wine in both countries. 

This dry, flinty, deliciously complex and succulent white is inspired by Vouvray from the Loire Valley - the classic home of Chenin Blanc.
This wine is made from grapes that were all hand picked, whole bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeasts. It comes from Swartland, one of the most beautiful regions in a drop dead gorgeously beautiful country.

From the winery...

Our low-vigour, stony, clay-rich soil, cool maritime mesoclimate, naturally tiny yields of well under 35 hl/ha and our philosophy of expressing our terroir in our wines ? give rise to a certain tightness, tannin line and elevated length to balance the richness and generosity of our Pinot noir. Our Pinot noir is not overtly fruity, soft and "sweet" and it generally shows hints of that alluring savoury "primal" character along with a dark, spicy, complex primary fruit perfume.  

Soil Low-vigour, stony, clay-rich, shale-derived soil

Alcohol 13.46% Acid 5.50 g/l pH 3.48 Residual Sugar 2.30 g/l

Barrel Ageing 10 months

Oak 100% 228 litre French Oak Barrels Tight Grain 100%

1st fill 35% 2nd fill 47% 3rd fill 18%

Blonde Toast 31% Medium Toast 14% Medium Long Toast 55%

French Coopers: Francois Freres 100%

Hamilton Russell is the top winery of the Walker Bay region of South Africa. They are one of the southernmost wine estates in South Africa and are incredibly close to the sea. It is this cooling maritime influence, which helps to cool down their vineyards and enable their grapes to retain acidity, which provides freshness in the resulting wines. It was founded in 1975 by Tim Hamilton Russell who set up the property in the search of making South Africa's top cool-climate wines. It has since been taken over by his son Anthony and his wife Olive. They are now making highly individual, terroir-driven Pinot noir and Chardonnay, which are widely regarded as with the best in South Africa and among the finest in the New World.

If you like warm southern French reds, you will love Mullineux's Kloof Street Rouge, which pays homage to Mediterranean style red blends based on Syrah with other classic southern Rhône red grape varieties jostling for character and adding complexity to this super smooth wine. The grapes are sourced from vineyards on the different soils in various parts of the Swartland.

This seductive blend of Southern Rhône varieties has a perfumed nose of violets, spice and purple fruit. The medium to full bodied, food-friendly palate is finely textured with firm but approachable tannins and a fresh, lingering finish. Best served at 16 to 18 °C

A complex wine with red fruit flavours. Big, elegant and ripe tannin structures. Will over time show more secondary and forest floor characteristics.

Vineyards and vines: small parcels of selected fruit are sourced from various vineyards on our farm Kalmoesfontein, the Swartland area and the greater Paardeberg mountain.

Grapes: Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Verdelho, Grenache Gris, Clairette Blanche, Semillon and Palomino.

Vinification: The vinification is quite straight-forward when you are working with fantastic grapes from old vineyards – whole-bunch pressing of cool grapes, this juice is then transferred to old casks; very old casks for fermentation and maturation. Some of the juices are blended during this time which what we like as the components really integrate then. A small percentage of the grapes are picked a bit earlier for some acidity but the rest are picked at what we reckon is a good ripeness and flavour.

Maturation: We only use old 1200l foudres and one 3000l foudre for the fermentation and maturation of 15 months. After this the wines are racked and blended in a single concrete tank with all their unsulfured lees and left for another 6 – 8 months before bottling.

Analysis: Alcohol 13.4 vol% Residual Sugar 2.6 g/l pH 3.45 Total Acidity (Tartaric) 5.56 g/l Total sulphur 80 ppm

The final makeup of the blend varies slightly each year. This is because of the vagaries of the vintage. We feel that Chenin Blanc is best suited to be the heart of the blend and that is why it forms the biggest portion of the blend. The aromas are very complex and change considerably in the glass. Perfume, spice, tea, stone fruit and citrus blossoms are some of the notes that can be detected. In the mouth the texture and ripeness and gentle tannins result in a wine that has incredible length and complex flavour profile. The wine also has wonderful fruit volume characterised by stone fruit and mineral flavours.

The finish is long and has slight phenolic edges supporting the fruit through the entire length of the wine.

Only 6400 bottles produced

Fab dry South African Chenin Blanc – one of the best and one of our favourites in store here at Regional.

A delicious dry and savoury Chenin Blanc with crisp apply acidity and a full body, showing off the fleshy citrus and stone fruit flavours in this wine, which comes from South Africa - the world's headquarters of Chenin Blanc, in terms of volume of grapes planted. 

Chenin Blanc is the leading grape variety in South Africa and is made in a wide range of styles. This is one of the best and was made by A A Badenhorst in South Africa's Swartland region, where Chenin grows superbly well. With a smattering of Palomino, the grape typically used for sherry, this wine is deliciously dry and savoury with crisp apply acidity and a full body, showing off fleshy citrus and stone fruit flavours.

Aromatic and inviting, this flavourful Shiraz shows ripe black fruit, cassis and lovely spice on the palate. In a great drinking window with a nice balance betweeen some primary fruit, secondary aging charecteristics & plenty of Tertiary character. Very smooth Tannin's.

Technical Info:

Soil type - Hutton, decomposed granite

Age of vines - Planted 2000 & 2001

Plant density - 2300–3200 vines per hectare

Trellising - VSP & Guyot

Pruning - 2-bud spurs every 12cm & Cane pruning

Yield - Approximately 12 t/ha

Vintage - A cool start to the season, but warmed up during the peak harvesting period. Very little rain during harvest, resulting in good, healthy fruit.

Yeasts - Natural occurring yeasts

Fermentation temp- 27 °C

Method- De-stalked, crushed, pumped into stainless steel tanks, pumped over for 6 days, left for 2 days before pressing, racked to barrel for malolactic fermentation.
Wood Maturation 18 months in barrel, 35% new French and the balance in older barrels

Chenin Blanc is the most popular grape in South Africa and it classically over delivers with great freshness and depth of flavour. Its naturally high acidity is softened in this wine with a rounded textural mouthfeel, citrus characters marrying harmoniously with ripe pears and stony, complex aromas that add interest.

Mullineux was established in 2007, when Chris and Andrea Mullineux settled in the Swartland wine region, 60 kilometers north of Cape Town. Within a very short time the winery established itself as one of South Africa’s most celebrated wine brands, both locally and on the international front. 

By 2020 the winery had received 30 five star ratings from Platter’s South African Wine Guide.

Southern Right is re-defining Pinotage with this intense classically styled, clay-grown wine, packed with complex berry fruit, beautiful tannins and subtle wood spice. Full ripeness and the longer hang-time afforded by cooler sites, combined with the complex, more classic fruit aromas and structure resulting from clay-rich soil, make this wine a highly individual expression of South Africa?s unique grape variety.

Pinotage is the signature grape of South Africa - a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, created by Professor Abraham Perold in 1925. It is known for its spiced red fruit and smoky aromas, which combine to make a full bodied, deeply fruity and complex red. 

This wine lives up to Pinotage's classic flavour spectrum, delivering layers of spicy interest and a succulent, delicious, complex taste.

Kaapzicht is a fourth generation winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The winery was founded in 1946.

Made with 95% Cabernet Franc and 5% Malbec with fruit from Stellenbosch and Paarl grown only on decomposed dolomite granite, which gives a great acidity and freshness to the wine and adds minerality to the finish. Beautifully ripe and oozing with brooding dark fruit flavours of cherry and blackberry.