Products

XECO is the brain-child of three 30-something 'fino fiends' who have long shared a love of fine sherry - and frustration that this love wasn't shared by their friends. The solution? Find better friends (kidding!) OR - find a way to bring a ‘Next Generation’ sherry to their friends and the world, finally giving this marvellous drink some long-overdue recognition. With 30 combined years of experience in the drinks industry, the trio set out to create a new brand of Sherry to put a contemporary edge on an age-old product, and in doing so help to dispel some of the myths around the category, while encouraging a new generation of discerning drinkers to give Sherry a second look.

Blair and Caroline Guthrie are making honest wines, farmed responsibly. Their baby side project (only 600 cases a year) is filled with so much love – their wines are comforting and lighthearted as a Sunday morning dance party in your bathrobe. Beneath that, they are strongly focused on preserving and encouraging the good in the world – environmentally, ethically and everything in between

He was an aspiring rugby player studying agriculture to pass the time, she was a budding soil scientist. They’re now husband and wife, making sincere, honest wines back in the Swartland where David grew up.

A tale as old as time, women in wine baby! Matilde Poggi’s first harvest, on her family-owned 15th-century farmhouse, happened in 1984. She worked tirelessly at a time when large, quantity-driven firms and cooperatives dominated local production. Rather than following the masses, Matilde chose to concentrate on quality, revamping her vineyards to better express the area’s native grapes. Today, she is one of Italy’s most respected producers, and, in 2013 was elected President of the Federazione Italiana Vignaioli Indipendenti (Italian Federation of Independent Grape Growers or FIVI). More recently, she became the first Italian and first female president of the European equivalent, the European Confederation of Independent Winegrowers (CEVI).

Matilde has three daughters, to whom she’d like to pass on Le Fraghe one day (but we’re volunteering in case her girls don’t want it – wanna come?).

Melissa Nelson is a self-taught winemaker who fell in love with the Bot River region and the camaraderie amongst the winemakers in the region (her grapes grow just down the way from Luddite). Her aim was pretty simple – to make more than they could drink. More than a decade later, that simple aim has led to some simply amazing bubbles!

Chad and Bree Stock, a husband-and-wife team, have merged their superpowers and unique backgrounds in wine to create Ltd. +, which emerged as a collaboration with farmers in the area, inspired to develop a diverse and sustainable wine landscape. The wines, often made from less common grape varieties adopting innovative techniques, are changing preconceived notions of Oregon wine.

Swiss-born couple, Nicky and Gaby, started planting vines in Santa Lucia in the 1970s. Since then, they’ve got the area recognised as a wine region and have been at the forefront of the sustainability movement since before it was really a thing! A pretty pioneering bunch, the Hahn Family!

She makes her own range of natural cosmetics, runs a boutique travel agency and makes banging wine. Alongside Paul Jordaan, assistant winemaker at Sadie Family Wines (you may have heard of them…), Pauline Roux crafts one of the most exciting Chenins coming out of South Africa.

The two cuties in charge of bringing the world Bodegas Frontonio are the perfect mish-mash of dreamers, drinkers and doers. They really are an exciting and very welcomed addition to the organic wine movement in and around their precious Valdejalón vineyard. Their values align with ours in that they understand that rules are meant to be broken, but before you break anything, make sure that your foundation is strong and that you respect the folk who came before you.

Humble, hardworking and patient – hallmarks of the donkey, and according to Francesco Follador, the winegrower as well. Stubbornness is another. Francesco holds tradition and heritage extremely close to his heart, refusing to take the easy road on anything – from the location his of vineyards on hard-to-farm hills, to insisting on growing much less popular native grapes. All in the name of being true to what he strongly believes is the best the region can produce and preserving the deep heritage of Valdobbiadene. It’s because he shares so many of these qualities with the donkey, that he chose it as his logo. To quote his website, “Yes, we are donkeys and we are proud of it”.

Melissa Nelson is a self-taught winemaker who fell in love with the Bot River region and the camaraderie amongst the winemakers in the region (her grapes grow just down the way from Luddite). Her aim was pretty simple – to make more than they could drink. More than a decade later, that simple aim has led to some simply amazing bubbles!

Chad and Bree Stock, a husband-and-wife team, have merged their superpowers and unique backgrounds in wine to create Ltd. +, which emerged as a collaboration with farmers in the area, inspired to develop a diverse and sustainable wine landscape. The wines, often made from less common grape varieties adopting innovative techniques, are changing preconceived notions of Oregon wine. 

Just unpacking the name of the brand gives you a sense of how proprietors Martin & Welma Smith view the world. Atlas, the titan of perseverance, tasked with holding up the sky represents how very seriously they take their commitment to protecting the lands on which they grow their grapes. It also speaks to the maps on which the terroirs they work with are laid out. Swifts, one of the fastest and most aerial of the bird species, represents their nimble exploration to find said terroirs. The project, which on the surface, focuses on site-specific Chardonnays from distinctive places scattered across the Western Cape of South Africa, carries with it so much more than just beautiful wines of exceptional texture (Martin is the KING of texture! – Cami). It carries with it the dreams of some of the most authentic souls we have the pleasure to know.

Blair and Caroline Guthrie are making honest wines, farmed responsibly. Their baby side project (only 600 cases a year) is filled with so much love – their wines are comforting and lighthearted as a Sunday morning dance party in your bathrobe. Beneath that, they are strongly focused on preserving and encouraging the good in the world – environmentally, ethically and everything in between

Jacques de Klerk, viticulturist and winemaker at Radford Dale by day, makes tiny batches of Chenin and Pinotage under his own brand, Reverie – started the year his first daughter was born. Reverie is an exploration of old vineyard sites, old winemaking styles and an old school passion for experimenting with the potential of familiar grapes to be something completely different.

“Some days I am more wolf than woman, and I am still learning how to stop apologising for my wild”, read the line from a poem that Jolandie Fouché’s husband texted to her one day – the quote that inspired the name. Jolandie grew up around these Swartland vineyards, spending her school holidays working them to earn pocket money. After spreading her wings and making wine in other regions, she’s returned to make wines that are a true expression of herself – both the woman and the wild, and we think that’s pretty poetic.

The story of Ottomani began with four friends who grew up together and turned a dream into reality. Not that far off from us girls at Crushed!

They graduated from the University of Florence with Oenology (that’s the science of wine) degrees and chose to separate for a while to get some exposure working in real wineries. With a few years of experience and some real savoir-faire in their back pockets, the boys came back together and purchased a farm of their own. In 2006, Ottomani was born with indigenous grape preservation and sustainability sowed into its mission statement.

The story of Ottomani began with four friends who grew up together and turned a dream into reality. Not that far off from us girls at Crushed!

They graduated from the University of Florence with Oenology (that’s the science of wine) degrees and chose to separate for a while to get some exposure working in real wineries. With a few years of experience and some real savoir-faire in their back pockets, the boys came back together and purchased a farm of their own. In 2006, Ottomani was born with indigenous grape preservation and sustainability sowed into its mission statement.