Natte Valleij – The Cinsault Whisperer of the Cape
Some wineries feel polished. Natte Valleij feels lived in. A place where history creaks through 300-year-old beams, dogs tumble across mossy cobbles, and a log fire crackles while rain streaks down the Cape Dutch gables. It’s also where Alex Milner, cyclist, historian, minimalist, and accidental maverick, crafts some of the most thrilling, site-specific old-vine Cinsault in South Africa.
Milner’s winemaking is gloriously unplugged: forgotten vineyards discovered from the saddle of his bike; dry-farmed old vines coaxed into ethereal, translucent reds; and a cellar that still echoes with the bones of its 18th-century past. His wines feel like they come from the edges—sunrise moments caught in bottle, history distilled into pure, graceful fruit.
This festive season, we invite you to curate your own Natte Valleij Six: pick and mix any six bottles of Alex’s site-specific old-vine Cinsaults and get 10% off any six. Build your own snapshot of the Cape’s forgotten vineyards, each one a story discovered on a lonely gravel road.
Mix any six. Save 10%. Celebrate the unplugged.
#FestiveSix
Festive Six
Natte Valleij Standouts
98 Points – Decanter | 96+ Points – Greg Sherwood MW | 17.5 Points – Jancis Robinson MW |
95 Points – Tim Atkin MW
“Every year, I lift this glass to my nose, breathe deeply, taste it, breathe deeply, and sigh with relief. My Darling, darling Cinsault. It has yet to disappoint me. It takes me back to African sunrises – sitting on kopjes in the Matobo Hills, watching blood-red light spill across and down the splits of bald granite rocks, the scent of resurrection bush in my nose, and the smell of rooibos tea. It has that fragile transparency of a paper-thin sliver of ruby – it feels as if it might crack in your mouth and maybe disappear. It really does taste of ancient rocks (and if you think I’m crazy, you need to watch the sun rise from the edge of the Matobo Hills). You can taste the rocks in the air. You can taste the sun rise. It’s not a wine that seeks to charm or please. It’s a wine that is. Meet it at its place.” – Tamlyn Currin.
95 Points – Greg Sherwood MW | 17.5 Points – Jancis Robinson MW | 95 Points – Tim Atkin MW
“Alex Milner tells me that this is ‘a wonderful vineyard. Chris [Alheit] called me and said, ‘Don’t you want this vineyard?’ And we now take it entirely. It’s on the Polkadraai Hills. An old guy planted the vineyard in 1972 to make port, but there was never enough sugar in the grapes.’ Spontaneous fermentation for 12 days, left on stalks post-fermentation for structure and depth, 10% whole bunch. Goes into a foudre for ageing for 18 months. TA 5.7 g/l, RS 2.1 g/l, pH 3.68, VA 0.78. 2,000 bottles. The perfume on this is unbelievable: damask roses, sandalwood. A wonderful matrix of structure in depth and breadth, and length. So peppery. Deep roasted tomato, roasted capsicum and then tomato vine on the finish. A real tapestry. Tannins running through it like bird-fine bones. Wild-strawberry sherbet. Such a long, long, white-pepper finish. A wine like this makes me hanker for steak tartare!” – Tamlyn Currin.
16.5 Points – Jancis Robinson MW | 92 Points – Tim Atkin MW
“Coastal is Alex Milner’s value-for-money Cinsault, the wine that “pays the bills”, as he puts it. Combining parcels from Darling, Simonsberg-Paarl, the Swartland and Wellington, planted on shale and decomposed granite soils, it’s sappy and fresh, with bramble, raspberry and cherry stone flavours, good structure and a nip of tannin. 2023-27.” – Tim Atkin MW.
