Natural Wines

Jolette Steyn is a super international wine sales lady by day, planning Vineyard Parties on the side. She has 15 harvests under her belt and quit her winemaking day job to take a gamble on making the kinds of wine she, as a self-proclaimed wine geek, truly loves. The Vineyard Party aims to bring some of South Africa’s lesser-known varietals to the forefront by exploring the Cape’s vineyards in search of biodiverse, sustainably farmed vineyards with happy soils, people and vines. 

They say, quite simply, that they are raising hand crafted wines along with their two daughters. But we think John & Tasha Seccombe are doing so much more than that! They’re raising the profile of forgotten grapes, reflecting on the heritage of a complicated wine producing country and thoughtfully capturing a new narrative of what that could become.

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?).

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

The very first winery in the Southern Hemisphere to farm using biodynamic practices, James and Annie Millton have stayed true to their practice since establishing The Millton Vineyard in 1984. Along their journey, they’ve raised a beautiful family. They’ve passed down their know-how to their children who now play key roles in some of Millton’s more avant-garde collections such as the “Crazy By Nature” which is some of our favourite juice!

Hubby to the ‘H’ in pH, is but one of many monikers for Thinus Krüger – cowboy, maverick, rock star are just a few of the others. Big hair, big moustache, big ideas and big adventures are the hallmarks of his pioneering project, named after a Norwegian ship that attempted to sail to both the North & South Poles. He’s headed to the edges of the winemaking map to find what vineyards lie over the next horizon, resulting in audacious and unusual wines that make the world feel like the good place it should be.

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.

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”.

Laura and Brendan Carter have an intense commitment to sustainability - a unique zeal some might say (= unico zelo in Italian - read on to find out why). They planted 35 different varietals to see which could grow without irrigation in the harsh Australian climate and ended with a handful of native Italian grapes they now craft into wonderfully smashable wines aimed at the next generation of wine drinkers.

“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.

Jolette Steyn is a super international wine sales lady by day, planning Vineyard Parties on the side. She has 15 harvests under her belt and quit her winemaking day job to take a gamble on making the kinds of wine she, as a self-proclaimed wine geek, truly loves. The Vineyard Party aims to bring some of South Africa’s lesser-known varietals to the forefront by exploring the Cape’s vineyards in search of biodiverse, sustainably farmed vineyards with happy soils, people and vines. 

Baby-brother brand to Sokol Blosser, this started as a project to continue releasing wines when a nasty pest called phylloxera wiped out most of their vineyards. Through luck and intention, it has evolved (see what we did there?) into a brand in it’s own right under siblings & co-presidents Alison & Alex Sokol Blosser.

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. 

Baby-brother brand to Sokol Blosser, this started as a project to continue releasing wines when a nasty pest called phylloxera wiped out most of their vineyards. Through luck and intention, it has evolved (see what we did there?) into a brand in its own right under siblings & co-presidents Alison & Alex Sokol Blosser

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.

Hubby to the ‘H’ in pH, is but one of many monikers for Thinus Krüger – cowboy, maverick, rock star are just a few of the others. Big hair, big moustache, big ideas and big adventures are the hallmarks of his pioneering project, named after a Norwegian ship that attempted to sail to both the North & South Poles. He’s headed to the edges of the winemaking map to find what vineyards lie over the next horizon, resulting in audacious and unusual wines that make the world feel like the good place it should be.