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Kottabos takes its name from an ancient Greek drinking game, where after a few glasses of wine, friends would fling leftover lees toward targets—because why not? In this case, it's a side project from Reenen Borman of Boschkloof, designed for experimentation beyond his family’s estate. A second-generation winemaker, Reenen has earned a reputation as one of South Africa’s best (casually – he’s been awarded more 99 points by international critics than any other South African winemaker in history, and one of less than 10 to be awarded 100 pts), bringing both technical skill and instinct to Boschkloof’s vineyards. After studying at Elsenburg and gaining hands-on experience in the Rhône Valley, he returned to Stellenbosch to refine the wines that have shaped his name over the years. That dedication was recognised in 2023 when he became a member of the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild—an honour reserved for only around 40 winemakers in South Africa. (Niels at Luddite is also one of the OG members!)

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. 

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.

Khayelitsha, located on the fringes of Cape Town, is a sprawling township a hangover from the Group Areas Act of the Apartheid regime. Lindile Ndzaba, who was born and raised, and still lives in Khayelitsha is looking to transform the narrative of wines in South Africa. In a country where the vast majority of citizens don’t have access to transport to visit wine farms or the money to spend in expensive city restaurants or bars – he realised he needed to bring fine wine culture to his community, and by doing this also start shifting the mindset of wine for consumption to wine for appreciation. Good wine he believes should be available to all South Africans and not just the privileged. And so, he launched Khayelitsha’s Finest Wines.

The vision of KFW is to see the townships develop and have their own resources to produce products without outsourcing. Not only does Lindile aim to grow his business internationally, but he also wants to encourage the community to work together to further the mindset of “supporting local brands.” He aims to continually provide jobs and, in essence, fight unemployment in the community of Khayelitsha.

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.

Founded in the late nineteenth century by Camille Vazart, the family is still based in the same house on Chouilly’s main street, and, after a 16-year ‘apprenticeship’ with his father, Camille’s grandson Jean-Pierre Vazart now manages the estate. He has just finished converting the vineyards to be certified organic - protecting the vineyards for future generations.

So much of our approach to wine has been inspired by Pieter Walser and his BLANKbottle wines – where the bottles typically don’t show the varietal to avoid any preconceived ideas about what people think they like and don’t like when it comes to wines. “You can’t judge it by the label; it takes drinking a whole bottle to get to know the wine.” He also designs those labels.

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.

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?).

Having worked for some great Oregon wineries throughout his career, in so many cases, founder Ryan Harms’ friends wanted to support him, but simply couldn’t afford to. He decided that he wasn’t going to accept that wine made in Oregon had to be so darn expensive. So he created Union Wine Co., (which makes Underwood) so he could finally make accessible wines he could share with friends and family, without sacrificing quality.

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.

“A dope-smoking political anarchist meets an upstanding young goody-goody sportsman at a mutual friend's 21st” – 35 years and 3 kids later, they are the family behind Luddite Wines. After a few years abroad, Niels and Penny returned to South Africa and found their plot of land in Bot River. Niels had a definite plan as to how he wanted to make wine and Penny knew that she wanted to farm as “green” as possible. Everything had to be about the wine. No intervention, no shortcuts and staying true to only bottling what, hand on heart was the best.

“A dope-smoking political anarchist meets an upstanding young goody-goody sportsman at a mutual friends 21st” – 35 years and 3 kids later, they are the family behind Luddite Wines. After a few years abroad, Niels and Penny returned to South Africa and found their plot of land in Bot River. Niels had a definite plan as to how he wanted to make wine and Penny knew that she wanted to farm as “green” as possible. Everything had to be about the wine. No intervention, no shortcuts and staying true to only bottling what, hand on heart was the best.

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.

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.

“A dope-smoking political anarchist meets an upstanding young goody-goody sportsman at a mutual friend's 21st” – 35 years and 3 kids later, they are the family behind Luddite Wines. After a few years abroad, Niels and Penny returned to South Africa and found their plot of land in Bot River. Niels had a definite plan as to how he wanted to make wine and Penny knew that she wanted to farm as “green” as possible. Everything had to be about the wine. No intervention, no shortcuts and staying true to only bottling what, hand on heart was the best.

Kottabos takes its name from an ancient Greek drinking game, where after a few glasses of wine, friends would fling leftover lees toward targets—because why not? In this case, it's a side project from Reenen Borman of Boschkloof, designed for experimentation beyond his family’s estate. A second-generation winemaker, Reenen has earned a reputation as one of South Africa’s best (casually – he’s been awarded more 99 points by international critics than any other South African winemaker in history, and one of less than 10 to be awarded 100 pts), bringing both technical skill and instinct to Boschkloof’s vineyards. After studying at Elsenburg and gaining hands-on experience in the Rhône Valley, he returned to Stellenbosch to refine the wines that have shaped his name over the years. That dedication was recognised in 2023 when he became a member of the prestigious Cape Winemakers Guild—an honour reserved for only around 40 winemakers in South Africa. (Niels at Luddite is also one of the OG members!)

The Lamiable family decided to start making wines under their own labels in 1955 after spending years growing and selling their grapes to other producers. Today Ophelie Lamiable has taken over from her father, and along with her husband, she is slowly upgrading the winery with each harvest.