Thistle & Weed Sprindoring 2022

The Thistle & Weed estate was born from a 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 the Cape's hidden gems, aiming to craft authentic, honest wines made with a deep connection to nature and offering the purest expression of the terroir they come from. Stephanie uses the same minimal-intervention winemaking approach to produce pure, site-specific wines. Their wines bear the Afrikaans names of various thistles and weeds (Thistle & Weed) found among the vines grown in the Cape. Etienne and Steph draw parallels between thistles and weeds and the uncompromising tenacity and survival abilities of old vines.

Springdoring (Cenchrus incertus) is a plant that takes root quickly and is hard to pull up. But it is not as tough and persistent as these Chenin Blanc vines grown in the Swartland, where survival is paramount. Planted in 1982, this vineyard is nestled in the Joubertskloof, on the Paardeberg mountain, the emblem of the Swartland. The vines grow on pure granite soils, sheltered from the scorching afternoon sun (east-facing). The grapes were gently whole-bunch pressed and fermented naturally in old French oak barrels, using only the free-run juice. The lees are stirred (bâtonnage) during the first month, then the wine is aged for 10 months before bottling, without filtration. This wine reveals aromas of lemon, grapefruit peel, pineapple, spring flowers, Golden Delicious apple, yellow peach, mandarin, quince and smoky rock. The palate shows generosity and texture, with saline tension and a finish of noble bitterness.

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.