Baby Bandito 'Chin Up' 2020
£17.00
A Wine That
is all about lightness. Almost feather-like, this is for those of us who like our reds as juicy and light in tannin as possible. It tastes like the best cranberry juice we've ever had.
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- Delivery: Delivery and gift wrapping options available at checkout.
- Winemaker: Testalonga
South Africa
Swartland
11%
Red
75cl
12-15°C
Organic
Decomposed Granite
Cinsault
Where and How?
This comes from the Piketberg, Swartland, South Africa. The vineyard is just one hectare of unirrigated, organically farmed Cinsault bush vines planted in 1981: a real treasure. The grapes are hand harvested, destemmed and left to ferment naturally for ten days in large 2000L open-top fermenters. It is bottled unfined, unfiltered and with just a touch of sulphites.
The Winemaker: Testalonga
Craig grew up in East South Africa, near Durban, in an area where there are very few vineyards. His childhood dream was to become a game ranger and to work in conservation. It was only after school that he was introduced to the notion of viticulture, through his brother Neil. At school, the only subject Craig had got straight As in was art - whereas the sciences lingered at Bs - so he was sold on the idea of being able to work with nature, transforming that into a liquid, and to sell that liquid via a label designed himself.
Today, you can find Craig and Carla Hawkins in the true Swartland wilderness – 100km north of the hub of the Paadeberg, in an area called Piketberg. This is true rural Africa; not many human beings are here, but rather wildlife in abundance. Together with 84 other farms, they are working on a project with the Cape Leopard trust, to track the movement of leopards and to investigate their interaction with farm animals. Thus, Craig has unwittingly fulfilled his childhood dream synonymously with farming vines and making wine.