Tasting Notes
Vine dried Elgin Sauvignon Blanc, Pieter actually finished picking this fruit on the very last day of his 2024 harvest, April 16th, months after he has picked most of his fruit. When the fruit reaches an optimum balance of sugars and acidity, they pinch the stems, just slightly, so that the fruit still hangs, but nothing else flows through the stems into the fruit. The only factor is water evaporation, causing a gradual raisining on the fruit without losing the acidity. What does this mean? Sugar, acid and concentration. This makes yeast struggle in fermentation, giving you a naturally lower alcohol (just 10.5%). Pieter gives it a year in barrel for 12 months to temper things and add a little depth. You have beauty, power, elegance, it is very special. Simply put, this is sweet wine perfection.
More Info
The tale behind the name BLANKbottle is that when Pieter was starting out, he made a small parcel of Shiraz and was left with a few unlabelled cases. One day, a woman wanted to buy a wine – “Anything but Shiraz,” she told him. Pieter shrugged and sold her the unlabelled Shiraz, neglecting to mention the variety. A few weeks later she returned demanding more, saying it was the best thing she’d ever drunk. For Pieter, it was a lesson on the gap between what people think they like (or dislike) and what they actually like (or dislike). After that, he decided not to list the varieties on his labels. Every one of Pieter’s wines is a story, rather than a grape variety, and it’s the juice inside the bottle which reveals that story. He doesn’t own any vines, but instead scours South Africa’s winelands for top-quality fruit that has somehow slipped under the radar, now sourcing from nearly 70 sites. Some years he’ll make 20 wines, other years 35. With the benefit of anonymity, variety and regional identity take a back seat while parcel expression does the driving. These are some of South Africa’s most original wines, made by one of South Africa’s most original winemakers.