“Not all magic is amongst the Stars in the Dark. It is also in the soils at our feet.”

The grapes all come from Niemandsrivier, a beautiful 3 hectare vineyard in South Africa’s coolest viticultural climate, Elgin. They lease these vines from Johan and Milanie Vosloo, and farm them themselves. Planted in 2006, the parcel features three clones (SH9c, SH21 and SH22) on a geographically complex mix of sandstone and shale soils, and is the perfect canvas to produce fine wines. The vines lie on a plateau at 200m above sea level, influenced by maritime winds off the cold Atlantic Ocean just 10km away.

Vines located in the same block can react to their environment in unique ways and No Place Like Home is an exploration of the variation that exists within a single vineyard. Using a mix of drone technology (with a Near Infrared Camera flying 80m above the vineyard) and good, old-fashioned soil analysis, we identified four distinct pockets across the 3 hectare parcel, then harvested and fermented them separately before meticulously blending only the best barrels to produce the most complete wine.

A very small, exceptionally late vintage. The growing season was off to a slow start, with budbreak two weeks later than normal. Cool weather and high wind speeds during set and flowering resulted in some uneven millerandage, which required a very keen eye on the sorting table. Strong canopy growth also necessitated careful management and several extra passes through the vines. A cool early growing season was broken by lengthy heat waves, before returning to cool, fair weather in the lead up to harvest. The prevailing dry conditions allowed for extended hang time on the vines, contributing to plush ripe tannins and real flavour intensity.

They harvested in the cool early hours of the morning, into 14kg lug boxes and transported grapes back to the cellar in refrigerated trucks where they are allowed to cool overnight. After gentle foot-stomping and crushing (one third wholebunch for this vintage), natural fermentation gets underway, at its own pace, in a combination of open and closed fermenters. Once complete, we macerate gently with a single, daily pumpover/punchdown.