If you translate the word “Mal” from Afrikaans to English, it means “crazy” and “Bek” means “mouth”. And that was quite clearly the inspiration behind this label! And as you guessed it, this is a 100% Malbec from the Helderberg, farmed by a fellow surfer and good friend's of Pieter. Like dark chocolate dipped oranges, with lovely minty notes, violets and a sweet perfume akin to opening a box of chocolates on the nose. Very perfumed and svelte on the palate, medium-full bodied, and very much so showing the softer, prettier side of Malbec, with gentle tannins, good freshness, and a lovely rounded mouthfeel.

#Tasting#

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.

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