2025 Best Sellers

The second vintage of this high altitude Grenache. The wine is made by Lukas van Loggerenberg, and its second iteration is as fantastic at the first.

The farm is Ex Animo Co-Founder Jeannette's family farm named De Keur in Ceres. Bushvine and dry-grown, this is a very unique site, that is covered in snow in some winters.

For the label, we took inspiration from the meaning of Ex Animo: from the heart. The label is based on an artwork called 'new wine' by Lenka Kuhn that we had commissioned in 2018. It is a line drawing depicting an anatomical human heart using elements of vines.

To reflect that the vineyard is young and maturing, we have planned an evolution of the label for the first five vintages. We will add small components of the label every year culminating in the final version from the 2026 vintage onwards.

32% Verdelho
30% Chenin Blanc
17% Viognier
15% Roussanne
6% Semillon

The latest vintage has a touch more Verdelho than previous years, which provides the wine with more structure. Natural ferment in Foudre and old oak for 10 months. Lime acidity cuts through the more robust varieties nicely.

Production by Donovan Rall is small and the wines are unapologetically bold without being overly heroic. Blending different cultivars from different areas, partnered with judicious use of new oak, gives the wines complexity and a sense of luxuriousness, both on the nose and on the palate. Importantly, Donovan manages to create balanced wines, even at the fuller-bodied end of the spectrum. Very classy multi-regional wines in the best tradition of the “new” world.

This vintage lives up to its "Platter's Pinot Noir of the Year" award. It's carefully made, resulting in a smooth Pinot Noir with layers of red berries, violet, and rose petals on the nose.

100% Organic Chenin Blanc

Pure, warm climate South African Chenin from the Voor-Paardeberg.

Christian Eedes, Winemag:
“Partly matured in barrel. Pear, peach and floral perfume on the nose. The palate is fruit-led but not facile – pure, fresh and pithy."

Thorne & Daughters' cornerstone wine is everything you want to see in a Western Cape white blend: grace and finesse, acidity and balance. John uses simple winemaking techniques, letting the fruit express itself in each vintage.

Christian Eedes, Winemag:
"30% Roussanne, 28% Chenin Blanc, 20% Chardonnay, 15% Semillon and 7% Clairette Blanc sourced from across the Western Cape. A triumph being both multifaceted but also completely coherent. Flowers, pear, peach, citrus, apple, earth, spice and a hint of leesy complexity on the nose while the palate has it all: depth of fruit, texture, a lovely line of acidity and long, savoury finish. A wine of pin-point accuracy. 98/100"

Elgin & Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley WOs

Chi means "life force" and Chi stands for CHIUTA (an African rain god). The Saurwein Chi Riesling is a floral and fruity style of off-dry Riesling made from grapes sourced from the following cooler climate regions of South Africa: 60% Casey's Ridge Vineyard in Elgin, grown on loamy and rocky red slate soils (Riesling clone WR1 10F; planted 2011); 20% Dal Farm, Elgin, grown on alternating rocky, red slate (Riesling clone 110; planted 2007); 20% De Bos Farm, Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley grown on decomposed Bokkeveld Shale and Sandstone (Riesling clones 110 & 239 AB; planted 2011).

Production 11 000 bottles.

2025 was a dream vintage: long, cool ripening resulting in the desired yellow grapes and immense aromatics. Keywords for this vintage: fresh, fruity, textured - delicious!

Grapes were hand-picked, cooled, hand-sorted, destemmed and pressed oxidatively. Spontaneous fermentation took place in stainless steel tanks, which lasted about 5 weeks until optimal residual sugar balance was achieved at about 13,5 g/ I.

Alc: 11 % | RS: 13.3 g/l | pH: 3.1 | TA: 6.7 g/l

Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za:

B Floral perfume, pear, peach, apple and spice on the nose while the palate has good fruit weight and a seductive sweetness, the acidity well integrated, the finish gently savoury.

Proefkonyn, meaning Guinea Pig, is a Verdelho from Franco Lourens, it is his "playground" for experimenting with different varieties and processes. He emphasises that he's not trying to reinvent Verdelho but is simply having fun making it, and that consumers shouldn't expect a wine similar to the rest of the Lourens Family Wines range. Verdelho is known for its resilience to heat and drought and its natural acidity and low pH.

The wine was fermented spontaneously in two older, neutral 500L barrels and matured on its fine lees for 10 months. It was bottled unfined and with only coarse filtration. On the palate, it presents a profile of yellow fruits with a clean, energetic character that might be reminiscent of a Chenin Blanc.

An unashamed expression of Pinot Noir, built on shape, texture and longevity rather than colour.

Fruit from Durbanville is for precision and brightness, Robertson contributing depth with and Stellenbosch structure.

Only the first 400 litres per ton are used for colour extraction, resulting in a very subtle hue. The palate is pure Pinot Noir: sour cherry, savoury spice and broad, confident structure. Pinot Noir loves time on cork, and this wine shows the reward, opening beautifully in the glass, with both freshness and gravitas.

The name ‘Birdsong’ nods both to Pieter’s long love affair with sparkling wine, and to Sebastian Faulks’ novel – a quiet reference to patience, time, and devotion.

“100% Pinot Noir. 57% of grapes from Napier, 28% Durbanville, 15% Stellenbosch. Primary fermentation in a combination of stainless steel and ceramic pots. 55 months on the lees. Complex aromatics of red cherry, orange, rose, underpinned by yeasty complexity and subtle notes of mushroom and earth. The palate shows good fruit weight, pleasantly sour acidity and a fine mousse before a dry finish. There’s a vinous, multi-dimensional quality here that SA sparkling pinks rarely achieve. Alc: 11.63%.” - Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za

This white blend, the first wine he ever crafted, is dedicated to Lindi Carien, his wife. We hope she enjoys many bottles, savoring each one as a reminder of Franco's love and dedication.

Lindi Carien, named after Franco’s wife, is a blend of 66% Chenin Blanc from Swartland and Piekenierskloof, 23% Verdelho from Stellenbosch, and 11% Colombar from Swartland. Grapes were gently whole-cluster pressed and fermented with no added yeast or enzymes. The wine was fermented and matured for 10 months in older, neutral 300L and 500L barrels. The Colombar component underwent 7 days of skin contact, contributing to the mid-palate, flavor, and concentration of the final wine. It was bottled un-fined and with only coarse filtration.

The final wine has a pithy and granitic note to it, more mature and realised than previous vintages.
“66% Chenin Blanc, 23% Verdelho, 11% Colombar (seven days skin contact). Grapes sourced from across the Western Cape; Colombar replaces Grenache Blanc in this vintage. Exotic aromatics of pear, peach, orange, pineapple with potpourri and spice in the background. The palate is rich and flavourful with tangy acidity and finish that is savoury and lightly grippy. Alc: 13.27%. 94/100” - Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za

The marquis wine from The Foundry and a multiple Platter's 5 Star winner.

Awarded 5 stars and category winner in the 2024 Platter's South African Wine Guide. This Grenache Blanc from the Voor Paardeberg showcases lifted floral notes, lemon cream, white stone fruit, and a distinct crushed rock minerality. The palate is linear and focused, offering clean grapefruit and quince flavours, a minerally mid-palate, rich texture, and a long, pithy finish.

Viticulture: Sourced from two adjacent vineyards on different slopes in the Voor Paardeberg, grown on Malmesbury shale and decomposed granite. Trellised vines allow for precise canopy management.

Vinification: Hand-harvested and cooled, whole-bunch pressed. Fermented with a high percentage of solids in seasoned French oak (Allier & Compiègne hogsheads), stainless steel tanks, and terracotta clay doliums (500L & 1000L). 10 months of lees aging before bottling.

A favourite of ours: the skin-fermented Craven Pinot Gris. Copper-coloured, uber-aromatic, super-refreshing and straight-up delicious.

This continues to be the Cravens' most iconic wine. As the vineyard ages the wine continues to become more exotic, floral and aromatic. The winemaking techniques have been refined over time in order to exhibit increased weight and texture on the palate with no loss of freshness or vitality.

"From a Polkadraai Hills vineyard. Six days of skin contact (slightly less than usual) before maturation lasting seven months in concrete tank. Pale red in colour. Rose, musk, spice, raspberry and orange on the nose while the palate has more grunt than usual without being inelegant – dense and pleasantly creamy in texture, bright acidity lending verve, the finish gently savoury. 93/100." Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za

Grenache Noir

The Mielie Grenache 2025 is a landmark bottling: the first vintage exclusively from the farm's own young-vine Grenache (planted 2018), and it is already over-delivering on quality, fast becoming a cult classic. The wine achieves exactly what was intended—a pure, fruit-driven expression described as "Beaujolais-esque." Sourced from dryland, organically farmed bush vines rooted in decomposed shale and sandstone, the 2025 vintage was exceptional. Defined by a record wet winter and an extremely cool growing season, the grapes yielded pure fruit with high natural acidity.

“Destemmed and matured in concrete. Wild berry, flowers and herbs on the notes while the palate shows pure fruit, snappy acidity and grippy tannins. More substance than the price might lead you to expect. " - Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za