Red Wines

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

We know Radford Dale winemaker & managing partner, Jacques de Klerk from his beautiful Reverie wines. Radford Dale began in 1998 when Alex Dale and Ben Radford decided to not just drink wines together but make them too. Since the beginning, they’ve focused on a light-handed, lower-intervention approach. The Thirst range is the live rock show to the studio albums of the rest of their wines – a little more edge, a little more fun and a whole lot of wanting to take another sip!

This tiny operation, started in 2007 by the spirited Sardinian Antonio Berritta, operates out of the basement of a grocery store. Antonio, his wife Maria Paola and their kids, Serena and Francesco are all involved in the operations of the winery – under the meticulous direction of the grandkids. Antonio’s family has been cultivating olives and vines using traditional methods for generations. This stuff really is in their blood!

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.

In 2002, Elisabetta Foradori (who’s a bit of a legend in Italy), Thomas Widmann and Giovanni Podini purchase Ampelaia – originally established by a Swiss couple in the 60s. Their vision was to demonstrate the diversity and potential of Maremma. Now, the fully biodynamic Ampelaia stretches across 120 hectares, of which only 35 are planted to vines – the rest are dedicated to wheat, olives, cows, chickens and beehives. Some say they’re a bit mad, but their decisions are all made very consciously, aiming to preserve the biodiversity of their land. They’re more of a family than a business, more of a lifestyle than a career.