Khakibos 2021

The domain Thistle & Weed was born from the collaboration between Stéphanie Wiid and Etienne Terblanche. Stéphanie works in the cellar while Etienne spends more time in the vineyards. Together they set out to discover the best of Cape Town's hidden gems, with the intention of crafting authentic and honest wines, crafted with a deep connection to nature and offering the simplest expression of the terroir from which they are born. from. Stephanie uses the same minimal intervention winemaking approach to produce pure, site-specific wines. Their wines are Afrikaans names for different thistles and weeds (Thistle & Weed) found among grape vines grown in Cape Town. Etienne and Steph draw parallels between thistles and weeds and the uncompromising tenacity and survival abilities of old vines.

Khakibos is a unique blend of 5 different varieties: Verdelho, Chenin Blanc, Palomino, Alvarinho and Fernão Pires. Verdelho is grown on soils rich in coffieklip, appreciated for their good drainage quality and anchored on the lower slopes of the Helderberg. The Chenin Blanc comes from an exceptional vineyard in Paarl, the Palomino from Piekenierskloof on sandstone soils and the Fernão Pires from gravelly soils along the River Breede. The grapes are picked and delicately pressed, then the juice will ferment naturally in old French oak barrels. Once fermentation is complete, the wine will age on its lees for 12 months before being blended and bottled, without filtration. This wine expresses notes of ripe apple , citrus , melon , pineapple , apricot , honey , orange blossom and mineral nuances. On the palate, a trace acidity keeps the wine linear and balances the roundness of this wine. The finish ends with citrus and salinity.

The first vines were planted in South Africa by Dutch settlers in the 1650s, although wine production did not really begin to take off until the arrival of French Protestants, in the 1680s, with their skills and their knowledge of viticulture. Stellenbosch is also a historic wine region, with the first vineyards being planted there in the 1690s. Today South Africa is one of the most important wine producing countries in the southern hemisphere. With over 300 years of winemaking history, it is often described as a bridge between the Old and New Worlds. The majority of wines are produced using New World winemaking techniques, but they often have more in common stylistically with their Old World counterparts. Since the end of apartheid, South African wine has received international attention and acclaim for its wide variety of styles. South Africa's wine industry is spread across the lush and rugged landscape of the Western Cape. Here, the abundance of mountains, valleys and plateaus allows winemakers to produce a wide variety of styles. Vineyards can also be found in the Orange River region of the Northern Cape, where the flat, arid landscape is dominated by the Kalahari Desert. Most of South Africa's wine regions have a Mediterranean climate, strongly influenced by the meeting of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The country's signature grape variety is Pinotage, an indigenous cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that is rarely found in quantity in other wine-producing countries. Shiraz (Syrah) is also widely planted, as are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (often combined in a Bordeaux blend). South African Chardonnay, Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc have become popular internationally in recent years.