This wine stands as the proverbial “line in the sand” for Anco wines. It is far more than just an inaugural wine, but more a statement of intent.

This wine lays the basis of what we strive for in our wine – balance.

As the name suggests, this wine was not forced to be something that it is not.

Through thoughtful and careful interventions, only when necessary, it was guided to be a spontaneous and true expression of Voor-Paardeberg terroir in its purest form.

The grapes for this maiden vintage were all grown on the south-facing slopes of the Paardeberg mountain – the cooler part of a hot region.

The vines are rooted in granitic soils. These factors are reflected in how the wine displays a bouquet of ripe, yet fresh, red fruit flavours, underlined with beautiful hints of spice. The grapes were grown by the extraordinary Willie Mostert and are mostly from bush vine parcels.

The winemaking approach is simply a process of guidance. As little as possible, as much as necessary. The wine was made in two different components.

Three clones of Syrah were co-fermented with a small percentage of stems. The other component consisted of a co-fermentation of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Carignan and Alicante Bouchet.

Both components were fermented on the cooler side of the spectrum, reaching a maximum temperature of 26°C during peak fermentation.

Punch downs and bucket-overs were carried out to manage the cap, focusing on a gentle extraction approach.

After fermentation, the wine was transferred to a 500L old oak barrel,s where it completed malolactic conversion and matured for 10 monthbeforeto blending and bottling in January 2024. No fining agents were used; the wine only underwent a coarse filtration before bottling.
The final blend comprises of 55% Syrah, 27% Grenache Noir, 5%
Mourvèdre, 5% Carignan, 5% Cinsault et 3% Alicante Bouchet.
We sincerely hope that drinking this wine will bring you as much joy as it has brought us in its production. Cheers to being spontaneous.
Alc: 13.95% | pH: 3.64 | TA: 5.1g/L | RS: 1.6g/L