Pastry, Caramel, Orchard Fruit

Western Cape / White / White Blend / Organic

The grapes were handpicked & prior to the Chenin & verdelho being whole-bunch pressed to old French barrels. The Grenache was whole-bunch pressed to a single clay pot &  fermented on skins and stems for a week prior to being pressed to barrel. Each variety fermented on the gross lees separately without any additions. The wine was bottled without fining or filtering and with a small addition of sulphur. Leaning towards something a little oxidative this blend is nutty and complex with bags of energy. 

Notes on the producer

Leaning towards something a little oxidative this blend is nutty and complex with bags of energy. 

It's been just a few years since Franco Lourens launched his own wines, and he's been wowing critics ever since. And yet for all the hype and recognition his wines receive, he's still the same modest, self-effacing chap always with a gentle smile on his face that we met back in 2018. vvb

He gained experience working for the likes of David Ramey in California and Vasse Felix in Australia before returning to SA where he took up the role of assistant winemaker for the prodigious Chris Alheit of Alheit Vineyards, one of the most influential and talented winemakers of the Cape in the last decade. Now sharing cellar space with friend and fellow talent, Lukas Van Loggerenberg, the wines follow a similar path to the new wave movement of of old-vine complexity, fine tune blending and masterly finesse. From his single-vineyard Steen to his Rhone red and white blend these are impressive bottlings by any standard. A breathtakingly self-assured range and almost in the blink of an eye places Franco into the very top bracket of top-end New Wave SA producers.