We visited all of our South Africa producers when we visited the beautiful country in fall 2022, and are so excited that some of the wines we tasted are now arriving in Ontario. Here are the NEW releases from Hemel-en-Aarde’s Restless River, and Stellenbosch’s Craven Wines. We’ve also created a limited set of Mixed Cases for each producer, allowing you to taste through their portfolios.
*We also have the spectacular sparkling wines from Pieter Ferreira available, plus more lekker new South African wines en route…
Restless River
Hundreds of years ago, the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley was known as Attacquas Kloof. In 1760 the elder Wessel Wessels arrived with his family and set up home, becoming the first European settler to live and farm in the valley. Some historians say it was Wessel who called the valley Hemel-en-Aarde (Heaven and Earth). Fast forward a few hundred years, when husband and wife Craig and Anne Wessels started planting part of the family farm in 2004, launching the Restless River label in 2012 to continual critical acclaim. They quickly made a name for themselves, and the cool climate, higher altitude Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, with their coveted, world class wines. The farm has some of the oldest Cabernet sauvignon and Chardonnay in the Hemel-en-Aarde, with vines first planted in 1999.
View the current wines here
View the Mixed Case Restless River here
Craven Wines
A global affair, husband and wife team Mick (Aussie) and Jeanine (South African) Craven met while working at a winery in Sonoma before returning to Stellenbosch to source fruit for their natural wines. Together, they make only single vineyard, single variety wines at Craven Wines, highlighting different terroirs around Stellenbosch.
“We chose South Africa, as we think there is a lot of potential here to make amazing wines. We live in Stellenbosch and our hearts are here in this town, which is why we only make wines from the Stellenbosch region as we want to be within a heartbeat of the vines. We want to make wines which are interesting, both stylistically and by varietal, but also wines which have a sense of place and express where they come from. We have isolated particular vineyard sites, for their unique soils and micro-climates, where we work with the growers to ensure that we get the best results from the particular sites. All our wines will come from single vineyards around Stellenbosch.” – Mick Craven
View the current wines here
View the Mixed Case Craven Wines here
Most of our producers are small, independently owned and operated businesses, like ours. You can view our complete portfolio here. Thank you for letting us share these producers and wines with you.
Cheers,
Le Sommelier
416.603.7026
bernard@lesommelier.com
Le Sommelier is a Good Food Fighter.
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