Kortpad Kaaptoe 2016
Kortpad Kaaptoe 2016 - Straight Fernão Pires (also called Maria Gomes in Portugal) from a 34-year old non-irrigated bush-vine vineyard planted in sandy topsoil with clay below on the Darling side of the Swartland. I accidentally stumbled upon this vineyard whilst taking a shortcut along dirt roads heading towards Cape Town from Darling. So the wine is called “Kortpad Kaaptoe” (Afrikaans for “The shortest way to Cape Town”). This is the 3rd vintage of the wine and the style moved a bit towards the elegant side of Maria Gomes. Spice-driven with fragrant finesse, but a strong potent core. The StoryThe story: In August 2011, on a farm somewhere between Darling and Hopefield on the West Coast of South Africa, I was visiting a block of grapes, Carignan. I received a SMS from someone who needed me to be in Cape Town within the next hour. Being in the middle of nowhere, I asked the farmer the quickest way to Cape Town. In Afrikaans (one of the 11 official languages of South Africa), the "kortpad Kaaptoe". He said that I needed to drive towards the Carignan, past the Shiraz and Fernao Pirez....
"The FERNAO WHAT???", I asked him? "Fernao Pirez" he replied. Bush vines, unirrigated, planted by his grandfather 38 years before. So, on my shortest way to Cape Town (the "kortpad kaaptoe"), I found Fernao Pirez. A varietal I had never tasted wine of and something I never knew existed in South Africa. And that brings me to something so very important to me.
I love interesting, true stories. So if I find a story like this, a bit of family history stumbled upon on my shortest route to Cape Town, I want to tell that story, disguised as a bottle of wine. So it is not ONLY about the wine. In life everything needs to be seen in context. If you take things out of context, wine becomes one dimensional and boring in a way.
The label: Linocut of AC/DC inspired font. Printed on real organics paper with as much gold bling as possible. Labels are hand applied with old-style wet glue technique. Please note that the label will slip off the bottle when it gets wet. The label is as natural as the wine inside the bottle.
Technical InformationVintage: 2016How to orderPlease note
Due to the many small batches of wines we make, availability changes on a daily basis. Please email aneen@blankbottle.co.za if you’d like to order any of our wines or if you are looking for a specific wine, and she will reply with a list of wines now selling. If the wine you are looking for is sold out, we could suggest some alternative excitement and/or we could also put together a unique selection for you.
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