Description
These bush vines must be the most isolated vineyard we have in our cellar. Planted on a lonely hill surrounded by wheat fields and to many gates to remember, this vineyard stands very alone. Planted in 1978 on Malmesbury formation, with some influence of decomposed granite. It faces South South West and experiences the cooling summer wind of the afternoon South Wester blowing in off the Atlantic, only 16km away. It is this uniqueness that allows us to offer something of exceptional quality and interest. Matured for 12 months in 3rd and 2nd fill 400L French barrels to maintain poise and reflection of site.
Tasting Notes
Tim Atkin 95
Picked before the rains in a year when "the weeds were sometimes taller than the vines", according to Alex Milner, this is another superb Cinsault from a winery that specialises in the variety. Made with fruit form a dry-farmed block planted in 1978, it has aromas of clove and subtle reduction, flavours of plum and wild strawberry and a waft of sea breeze. 2025-31. [Tim Atkin MW, 08/06/2026]
Greg Sherwood 94
Always one of Alex Milner s most aromatically expressive and fragrant Cinsaults made from a 1978 dryland bush vine vineyard, this 2024 has a delightfully light touch 12.5% alcohol from this more harmonious, settle vintage in the Swartland. Using around 20% of whole bunches, the grapes were fermented in concrete tanks before being basket pressed into large 400 litre French oak for 14 months of barrel ageing. The nose shows archetypal notes of rose petals, cranberries, pink musk, and Turkish delight with a dusting of wild herbal garrigue-style spice. The 2024 shows a crisp but harmonious palate texture, delicately red fruited and bright with hints of red cherry rock candy developing in the glass before finishing with a cool, mineral restraint. A very pure and precise vintage that will reward early drinking, or else cellar for a further 3 to 5+ years. 94+. [Greg Sherwood MW, 08/06/2026]
JancisRobinson.com 17.5
I first tasted this the day after it had been bottled at Natte Valleij, and so perhaps feel a kind of irrational emotional connection to this wine, although it has been my darling Cinsault since I first tasted it in 2019. I tasted this over several days, and it s a liminal-and-light wine, sometimes tasting like sunrise, sometimes sunset. Sometimes like strawberries and malt, sometimes raspberries and pepper. Always haunting. Always a wine full of pauses, which is where the tannins seem to tuck themselves. Always a sense of forgotten, overlooked spaces and places, which is where its leaf-and-mineral notes seem to hide, like mossy crannies in stone steps. [Tamlyn Currin, 25/03/2026]
Anticipated maturity: 2026-2032
