We’ve just added 10 wines to our August Sale, and two of them come from one of the Cape’s most characterful producers.
De Kleine Wijn Koöp began as a small, instinctive collaboration between South Africa’s wine, design and music communities. Today, under Wynand and Anya Grobler, it has found a permanent home at the spectacular Drie Fonteine farm beneath the Witzenberg Mountains in Tulbagh, producing wines that combine old-vine heritage, Rhône-inspired varieties, minimal intervention and a distinctly South African sense of place.
These aren’t wines that feel designed by committee. They’re expressive, individual and slightly unruly, which is rather the point.
We’ve now put two of our favourites into the August Sale, including Greg Sherwood MW’s 94-point 2023 Kreatuur, reduced from £25 to £18, alongside the 2024 Kreatuur Wit, now just £16.
If you’ve been meaning to discover De Kleine, this is a very good time to start.
If you’ve yet to discover Holden Manz, we think this is the perfect place to start.
50% Shiraz, 30% Grenache, 12% Cinsault, 8% Carignan, Paarl
94 Points – Greg Sherwood MW
“The Cinravedre cuvee is a red blend of 50% Shiraz, 30% Grenache, 12% Cinsault and 8% Carignan grown on Granite and Schist soils that was vinified and aged in various sizes of old French oak from 225 litre to 2000 litre foudres, and several sizes in between as well as a few concrete eggs for 14 months. The aromatics are wonderfully expressive showing a fine mix of potpourri perfume, dried herbs and sweet lilac over notions of crushed red currants, smoky black cherries and dusty crushed granite. Delightfully plush, fleshy and full in the mouth, the tannins are sweet and silky, coating the mouth alongside sweet brambly black and red berry fruits, bay leaf spice, dried herbs and a sweet sappy cedary wood spice complexity on the finish. Long, generous and accessible on the palate, this is a very well-crafted expression Southern Rhone style red blend with a subtle sweet sour tangy acidity on the long fruit forward finish. Drink now to 2030+.”- Greg Sherwood MW.
61% Grenache Blanc, 21% Grenache Gris, 12% Verdelho, 6% Muscat d’ Alexandrie, Swartland
If the red shows De Kleine’s Rhône-inspired side, the Kreatuur Wit gives you another glimpse of the project’s instinctive approach to Cape wine.
Fresh, textured and characterful, it’s the kind of bottle that makes sense at £19.99, and even more sense at £16.
From Wandering Collective to Tulbagh Home |
De Kleine Wijn Koöp was born out of the creative overlap between Stellenbosch’s wine, design and music scenes, with founders Jan Solms and Rohan Etsebeth producing small, experimental lots alongside some of the Cape’s most interesting winemakers and designers.
Wynand and Anya Grobler have since given the project something it never really had before: a home. At Drie Fonteine, beneath the Witzenberg Mountains, De Kleine now sits among Rhône varieties, old vineyards, a cellar, tasting room and luxury cottages. The farm itself has had a complicated history and has hosted an extraordinary succession of winemaking talent, including Chris and Andrea Mullineux, Callie Louw and Tremayne Smith.
Today, the Groblers are turning that history into something distinctly their own, wines that remain instinctive, small-batch and unmistakably South African.
The result? Wines with a story in every bottle, and, for the next little while, some very attractive prices.
