SHIRAZ

This is a grilled red meat (braai, anyone?) wine if ever there was one. Think big, hearty, heavily flavoured dishes.

When summertime hits, 20 minutes or so in the fridge can’t hurt

“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.

Niels has loved Shiraz since his early winemaking days in Australia. But it was a super traditional, old-school winery in Chile that cemented his love for lo-fi winemaking – no bells and whistles, just good fruit, good yeast and good barrels. The Luddite Shiraz, the first wine released from Luddite winery, is the embodiment of that philosophy.

Place: Bot River, Overberg, South Africa
Grape: Shiraz with a splash of Mourvèdre and Cabernet Sauvignon
Style: It don’t get much bolder than this… | 5,800 bottles produced
Ingredients: Grapes + minimal sulphur at bottling