BLANKbottle Wines - Pieter H. Walser

A movie about myself...

2010-06-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Hands on Wine, the new wine section within Woolworths, recently asked my brother, Xaver, to make a movie about myself. It took some serious brainstorming but the finished product is, according to my wife, the best three minute summary of me that she's ever come across. And as you all know, she is never wrong.

So I'd be honoured if you'd go to my website (it's embedded on my home page) or youtube to watch it and send me your comments.

Yet another new wine: Grenache 2007

2010-05-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

This is the release of the 3rd wine in The Spaniard Educational Range: BLANKbottle Grenache 2007 - my personal favourite, lower in alcohol and the most RUSTIC of them all.

This is a Limited production of 600 bottles at R59 per bottle.

The grapes for this wine is from Piekenierskloof, Citrusdal. Grenache, as a grape variety, hails from ancient Spain. The cultivar is used mainly as a blending component in wines and you rarely find the cultivar used as a single varietal. You will however find that premium wines in areas like Châteauneuf-du-Pape in Southern France mainly consists of Grenache. If you would like to have more information on the Grenache grape, click here. You can also go to Wikipedia.

To purchase the Grenache, or any of my other wines, you can order and pay with your credit card online. Alternatively, send me an e-mail, if you'd like to place your order and pay via Internet transfer or cash. I deliver door-to-door all over South Africa.

If you haven't yet heard of The Spaniard Educational range, please read here. Two of the other wines in the range, the Carignan and the Mourvédre, have already been released.

Another new wine: Mourvedré 2007

2010-05-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

As promised: every second week a new wine! Last week I released the Carignan 2007 (limited production of 400 bottles). Today I'm releasing the second wine in the Educational range: BLANKbottle Mourvedré 2007. In "The Spaniard 2007" it is a potent component - not necessarily in volume, but in sheer power. You can therefore expect pure power from the Mourvedré 2007..., the backbone of the Spaniard.

Limited production of 1200 bottles at R59 per bottle. You can order and pay with your credit card online or reply to this e-mail if you want to place your order and pay via Internet transfer or cash. I deliver all over South Africa door to door.

If you do not already know of the educational range, please read below.

My new wine: Carignan 2007

2010-04-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

This is the release of my new wine: BLANKbottle Carignan 2007. The first wine of the Educational Range.
In August 2009, I released a wine called the Spaniard. The Spaniard is a blend of 42% Mourvedré, 24% Carignan, 24% Grenache and 10% Cinsaut. An unique wine, which I personally feel was a breakthrough for BLANKbottle in terms of innovation. After the first bottling I had enough wine left in barrel for a second bottling. I then had a choice: I could either bottle a second batch along the same lines as the first Spaniard or I could go for something very different.
It was a freezing cold winter evening I had to make a final decision. My second child, our little girl Alexa, had just been born and my wife (and tasting partner) went to bed early. I, on the other hand, got into the bath with four little plastic wine barrel sample bottles, a bottle of The Spaniard, a measuring cylinder, a couple of wine tasting glasses as well as a big tasting glass. I arranged everything around the edge of the bath in a way that I could reach everything from a lying position. After a long evening of tasting, mixing and measuring I came to a decision which goes against my own personal preference in wine: bottling them all as single varietals. In my opinion, each of the components is exceptional and of the best expression of that specific cultivar that I've tasted. Besides that, I know it'll get you talking! So I've bottled each of the cultivars separately, by hand straight from barrel, unfiltered and unfined. I ended up with four very limited batches of wine I now call: the Educational Range, parts 1 - 4.
Initially my plan was to expose you to and teach you the differences in each of these eccentric varietals. Now, after six months in bottle, these wines have matured and grown into four spectacular wines in their own right. I know that the whole is suppose to be better than the sum of the parts, but trust me in this case: each part is spectacular - The Carignan, Mourvedré, Grenache and the Cinsaut. In the two months to come I will be releasing one of these wines, every second week. So, I suggest: If you like the Spaniard (a blend of all four), stock up on it (I only have 56 cases left) and then buy each component in the weeks to come. They are all great.
Today I'm releasing "The Carignan 2007" (only 400 bottles available) at R59 per bottle. You can order and pay with your credit card online or e-mail me if you want to place your order and pay via Internet transfer or cash. I deliver all over South Africa door to door.
Remember, I have a 100% money back guarentee on all my wines. I therefore take all the risk. Go on, it's all about the adventure...

BLANKbottle rated as a destination by the Germans

2010-03-29T02:38:00.000-07:00

I know this is blowing my own trumpet, but I want to share the news with you because it is rather funny: BLANKbottle topped the list of wine destinations for South Africa in STERN Magazine, the biggest German magazine publication ( 7.8 million readers). To read the article...

Now those of you who've been to my office will know why it's funny. If you come and visit me, not only don't I have a wine farm or vineyards to show, but you will most likely be sitting on the windowsill ...and that's exactly where that reporter was sitting when he came to interview me.

VIVA honesty!

Traversing the vineyards

2010-03-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Although you haven't heard much from me in the last few weeks, my life has been anything but quiet! This e-mail is to bring you up to speed on what is happening here at BLANKbottle. Most of my time was spent away from the office, on the road, driving from one vineyard to the next. This year's harvest went extremely well. My goal is to, each year, make more wine than the year before. This year we made 13 batches of wine, using 10 different varietals from 4 different areas. The whites are finished with fermentation and the reds will be pressed in the week to come. For photos, go to BLANKbottle's fan page on facebook.

I've also bottled 3 new wines and the plan is to release a new wine almost every second week for at least 3 months to come. Labelling is taking place in the next week or so.

Last, but not least: My brother is here from Switzerland. And that means films, crazy schedules and more films. We were commissioned to make 4 new wine films for "Hands on wine", the new wine section within Woolworths. For those of you who don't know, "Hands on wine" asked me to be one of the 4 winemakers to work on the wine range for South Africa's best selling rock band, the Parlotones. The first wine we made for them was a red blend called "GIANT MISTAKE" and the new white that's just been launched is called "PUSH ME TO THE FLOOR". The wines are exclusive to Woolworths. Last week we made the new Short film for "PUSH ME TO THE FLOOR" with the band. Click here to view the pictures on BLANKbottle's fan page on Facebook.

Please see the wines now selling on my website: The Midnight Call 2007, BATAVIA 2008 and The Spaniard 2007. The Spaniard and BATAVIA are both down to the last pallet now.

If you want to track my whereabouts you're welcome to follow me on Twitter. I try to keep you up to speed with photos as well as text.

Until next month then, when I will tell you more about "The Spaniard Educational Range".

February 2010 - Weekly report - harvest and new wines

2010-02-23T04:39:00.000-08:00

As you well know, this time of the year is very busy for everyone involved with wine! I'm no exception, so you might notice the week reports getting shorter... To summarize, my life at the moment is marked by a constant challenge to achieve balance and prioritizing! Rather than giving you a day-to-day report, I've decided to rather give you an overview of my projects.

For the 2010 harvest BLANKbottle will be involved in a few projects at various locations within the Western Cape. Up to now we've received Chardonnay from Wellington and the Helderberg, Chenin blanc from the Swartland and Wellington, Viognier from the Voor-Paardeberg and Wellington, and then a few (very unique and interesting) cultivars I'm not at liberty to mention. For the remainder of the season we're expecting 3 more white and 3 red wine varietals.

Each day turns out to be different than planned, but it is typical for this time of year. Where the fun comes in, is balancing my many job descriptions! Apart from the normal day to day running of my business (week reports, newsletters, planning of new wines, packaging and marketing, admin, budget, accounts, VAT etc), I am also the driver in charge of grape transport and assisting with making my 2010 wines. I am working on four new wines to be released in early March. So at the moment I also have to be focused on label design, printing and ordering packaging materials for labelling. With these wines, I am taking an new approach on labelling and education, but more of that later.

Many people say that I am the Winemaker, implying that I do all the work in terms of the grape production and wine making. They also know that I do the marketing and that I am the business owner. But, it is virtually impossible for me to do everything. No man is an island and I am no exception. There are many friends, family, winemakers, grower's and BLANKbottle fans who support me in everything I do, especially this time of the year. For instance: My father-in-law helps me transport my grapes when things get too rough, my mom-in-law babysits in order for my wife to help me in the office. So, it is thanks to people like this that I am privileged to be able to do what I love the most.

January 2010 - Bottling 3 new wines, vineyard tours, rock stars etc...

2010-02-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

2010 started with a bang. Week 1 of the year went as follows:

Monday a friend of mine, Albert, and myself met early morning and headed off to the Swartland to rack 2 new wines from barrel. We are doing a joint venture for BLANKbottle . It was a long day of pumping wine from barrel to tank and transporting the wine from Malmesbury to Stellenbosch

Tuesday The BOSS asked me to join him for the following three days in the search for possible rock stars of the wine industry. We started off in Riebeeck Kasteel on one of the hottest days of the summer. Driving through some spectacular vineyards the temperature rose to 45°C. We met up with a very interesting young winemaker, enjoyed a fabulous lunch at cafe Phoenix and tasted his new red blend at his winery. We ended the day way up in the Helderberg, tasting a fascinating Cap Classique with a friend.

Wednesday we met in Noordhoek and had lunch at the Food Barn with an alternative Lone Ranger who makes fabulous wines. We ended the day with Duncan Savage at Cape point Vineyards, tasting all his new Sauvignon blanc’s from barrel. He opened Sauvignon blanc’s which was up to 5 years old and it was absolutely perfect.

Thursday we were back in Malmesbury travelling through the Paardeberg where we had lunch with Adi Badenhorst and then met up with Eben Sadie. Altogether three days of great wines and many inspiring conversations.

Friday Albert and myself bottled two new wines for BLANKbottle . Albert is an expert when it comes to the Swartland. He knows all the best Vineyards and has great contacts. It's a new area for BLANKbottle and that's why I need the help of a friend. The wines are both fascinating and I hope to release it by middle 2010.

Week 2 was spent in the office in front of my Big White Board...planning! (the 2010 vintage, bottling, packaging, release dates, newsletters etc etc...) For me, the foundation of all business is Administration, if that's not in order I’m unable to be creative. So, I’ve learnt to embrace Administration. In the end it saves you a heck of a lot of money. The end of that week we racked the new Moment of Silence 2009 from barrel into tank. The final blend was made up of four 225l barrels of Chardonnay, two 300 L barrels of Chenin blanc and one barrel Viognier.

Week 3 was spent preparing the Moment of Silence 2009 for bottling as it underwent stabilisation. I also travelled extensively to all the Vineyards. We had quite a lot of wind damage in one of the Chardonnay blocks, so we ended up changing to another area within the same block. We also identified a new block of Chenin blanc we will be experimenting with for the 2010 vintage. Although it’ll be an experiment in 2010, I am pretty confident that we will get excellent wine from that block. Albert and I did some planning. We will be producing 2 new wines for the 2010 vintage, but more on that at a later stage.

The last week of January was spent bottling the new Moment of Silence 2009. Again I went to visit all the Vineyards. I also worked with my designers on the labels for my new range of wines. I will go into detail once I release the wine but what I am doing now is quite exciting and a bit different to what BLANKbottle clients are used to. An interesting year to come, for sure!

The cost of making wine

2010-01-26T01:43:00.000-08:00

One of the hottest discussion topics around wine is pricing. Everyone normally has the same question. If I am able to buy a red wine for R25 a bottle, am I being ripped off when I pay R80, R90 and even R120 a bottle for something interesting? In today's newsletter I am going to show you exactly what the various wine production costs are and, by way of example, what it costs me to make my wines. Business suicide some might say, but I personally feel that if BLANKbottle is about honesty, then this is something you have a right to know and need to understand. (In my next newsletter I will be looking at possible reasons why wine could sell for less. And, on the other hand, why you are most probably not being ripped off when you pay R600 a bottle from a top producer!)

In order to address the subject of pricing properly I have to oversimplify. Obviously there are millions of ways to look at this, but this is simply my personal view, based on BLANKbottle's reality.

To me, business is not just about the bottom line. My reality is that business is about people. My goal which I'm working towards, is to price my wines in order for everyone in the production chain to provide for their families. AND, at the same time, following my passion, having loads of fun and aiming to add value to the customers' lives through the wonderful adventure we call wine.

That said, let's start with a cost breakdown. A red wine costs the same as a wooded white wine to make, so I will be looking at the cost of quality wooded wines.

You can't make a good wine from average quality grapes. We need established, well looked after vineyards which takes time, effort and a lot of hard work to establish. These vineyards produce roughly 4 -5 tons of grapes per hectare per year. It depends a little on the cultivar but on average this is what we get. The operational costs of a vineyard in Stellenbosch according to Vinpro (organisation who represents SA wine producers) is about R29 000 per hectare / year. In order for the farmer to make it worth his while I would think he needs to make at least a 30% Gross profit. He therefore needs to get R37 700 per hectare / year. If he gets 5 tons a hectare, the winemaker needs to pay him R7 540 per ton to keep him in business.
I rent space at wineries and pay R2500 per ton to destem and ferment. I get 500 litres of wine per ton grapes (after fermentation, ageing, filtration). When the wine hits the barrel it is already at R10 040 per ton and R20.08 per litre.
All my reds, as well as some of my whites, go to barrel. Let's say I make use of 20% new oak, 20% 1st fill, 20% 2nd fill, etc. You would therefore use a barrel for 5 years. Let's assume the wine only stays in barrel for 12 months. A new barrel costs R12 500. Over 5 years it is R4020 per year at an interest rate of 13% per year. You get 225 litres from a barrel and therefore another additional cost of R17.87 per litre for the wood.
Storage during ageing is 30c per litre per month and therefore R3.60 per year per litre. Then follows stabilisation (R1/litre). Up to the point of bottling we are on R42.55 per litre. We get 750ml into a bottle, therefore R31.91 per bottle (only wine).
Then follows bottling (R0.41 per bottle - Mobile bottling unit), bottle (R3.74 per bottle - Consol burgundy), cork (R2.11 per bottle - Natural cork), front label (R2 per bottle including plates), back label (R0.50 per bottle), capsule (R0.37 per bottle - polylaminated silver capsule), box (R0.61 per bottle - printed brown 6 pack), divider (R0.16 per bottle - carton divider), box label (R0.09 per bottle) and extras like transport/lab/labour (R1 per bottle). The government then adds on to this excise duty of R1.49 per bottle. This brings us to R44.39 per bottle.
If you borrowed the money from the bank you need to pay the bank an interest of maybe 13%. Let's ignore this for now. In order to pay himself for his trouble, as well as the overheads of the business, the winemaker needs to make a 30% gross profit. He therefore needs to sell that wine for R57.71 per bottle to make it worth his while. Add 14% VAT to this and you are on R65.79 a bottle.
This is my minimum cost to produce a quality, boutique-style, barrel-aged wine. In order to produce something significant I need to invest significantly more time, spend more on the vineyards, reduce the tons/hectare, invest in barrels and the list goes on and on. I focus on producing smaller batches of wine. These smaller, ever changing, limited edition quantities add heaps of excitement and fun to my clients' lives, but also have its financial implications.
In BLANKbottle's case, I have the privilege to sell my wines through only 2 super exclusive channels: straight to the consumer on my website www.blankbottle.co.za and in Woolworths. On my website you have access to special wines exclusive to the website. Selling straight to the consumer enables me to build strong relationships with my clients. I work with Woolworths to produce special unique wines exclusive to them in order to add to their cutting edge, ever-extending wine portfolio. In order to ensure a fair retail value for those wines, I give them a better price (by cutting back a bit on my gross profit). They also need to be paid for their commitment, route to market and marketing skills.
I do not sell to restaurants so I cannot comment on this, but rumour has it that they add a 100% - 300% mark-up on wine.

Bottom line:
Clearly, good wines are expensive to make. I prefer not to take shortcuts.

Quo vadis!

A letter from a friend - The LAST bottle in Sweden

2010-01-05T23:20:00.001-08:00

Pieter,

I am sitting in Sweden, it's mid wid winter and it's a blistering 14 minus outside. It's about half a meter of snow and the wind is sending siprales of dusty, cold sparkles upwards. In the mids of this cold, dark time of the year I went and bought the best meat one can get hold of in Sweden. You know the kind you don't have anything to. Just a piece of tender Sirloin that hang for eight weeks. To it I just opened what was known as the last ISA42 bottle in the world. A gentle ripple of fines cloudberrys and earthy tones blended with a almost citrus fresh tone of blueberry. I thought I smelled gingerbread but that sent passed to quickly. I have not tasted it yet, I rushed to the computer to let you in on this almost historic moment. ISA42 was made during your first year working with Blank bottle. I remember you telling your vision and me nodding and smiling at your passion. The passion remains and I am proud to call you my friend, not for the wines but for the hones and genuien soul you carry.

Only two thinks left. Taste the wine and take a fresh look at how to import the bottles that are everthing but blank.

Yours,

David J Soderlund,

Stockholm, Sweden

I didn't decide the price, you did!!

2009-12-08T02:36:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who helped me put a price to my new wine, the BATAVIA. It is a Cape blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet franc and Pinotage.
I hand selected 63 of my valued clients to assist me in this adventure. Each received a case of wine delivered to their house. They tasted it on their own / drank it with friends / did blind tastings / compared it to well known expensive brands / compared it to well known cheap brands / braaied with it / went fishing with it / took it to the bush / gave it away / compared it with food / drank it, drank it and drank it.... bottom line: it sounds like they had HEAPS of fun! The single purpose : To put a price to the wine. What's interesting is that most of them commented that they determined a price not only based on what they think it is worth, but also on what they can afford. And that's then what they paid me.
Based on what they paid, I worked out the average price and will now release the rest of the wine at that EXACT price. Part of the fun is to share what all had to say about the wine. I therefore decided to published ALL the comments (the GOOD, BAD as well as the UGLY ones) below... After all, BLANKbottle is all about honesty.
The average price people paid me and therefore the official price for BLANKbottle BATAVIA is R52.61 per bottle. You can buy the wine on my website now or via e-mail, phone fax.....
Go for it: I didn’t decide the price, you did!

I opened a bottle and had a couple of glasses. Very tasty, young yet remarkably smooth. Another winner I would say! I am happy to pay R 70.00 per bottle to you – how does that sound?. Retail I would expect to pay at least R100.00.

Alan

We were 4, if you sat around the table you would have been very proud !! All the comments, flavors that they were aware off. From the smelling of freshly cut lawn, up to dried fruit, oak, roses, charcoal, smoke etc. We think you did well, congratulations!!! You can invoice me for R65 a bottle !!!!!!

Alta

My personal view is that your wine compares favourably with blends ranging in price from R40 to R50 per bottle on the shelf. I have a Spier blend that it does not quite match, but then I paid R50 wholesale for it. I am therefore happy to pay R45 per bottle for it. It certainly improves with a bit of breathing. I think it will improve a bit over time, and recommend that it lies down for a year or two.

Andre

Ons het 3 mense gehad wat ‘n blinde wynproe gehou het tussen Batavia, Odd Bin 249 (prys R37), Perdeberg Cab/Merlot (Prys R30), en Le Riche Cab/Merlot (prys R100). Buiten die wyn evalueer vir reuk, kleur en smaak, het ons ook probeer raai wat ons vir elkeen van die wyne sou bereid wees om te betaal. Uitslag was dat 2 mense vir Batavia R30, en een R45 gegee het, wat ‘n gemiddelde van R35 gee. Dit sal dus die bedrag wees wat ek reken ‘n regverdige prys hoort te verteenwoordig vir hierdie een.

Andre

I did get a few friends around to taste the wine and did as you suggested, bought two other wines of varying price categories, and did the tasting. I personally enjoyed the Batavia with its hint of chocolate – I generally enjoy Pinotage varieties. My friends are mostly Cab/Merlot drinkers and thought it a bit heavy on their palettes. It turned out to be a fun evening, everyone thought it was a brilliant idea to do this – you may have started a new trend as far as wine gatherings go! The conclusion after the evening’s proceedings was that the bottle should be priced in the region of R40-00. I would have priced it higher – R48-00. So, please send me my bill.

Alf

Thanks for letting me participate in your latest testing, I do enjoy the opportunity to try something interesting and unique (which your wines always

are.) Deciding not to keep the experience to myself I passed out a few bottles of BATAVIA to some friends and sought their feedback as well, so here goes;

Craig: Great nose when opened and got even better on the palate after opening and resealing for a day. Eaten with sausage and salad at a braai - thoroughly drinkable and lovely complex taste.

James: A bit "hectic" if consumed too soon after opening (- explained the age of the wine and immediately clarified that one). "A wine which will encourage you to drink too much of it!" - Consumed in quantity with Steak and fresh garden salads.

Myself: Love the strong spicy aromas when decanting for the first time, flavours interestingly complex and almost has two distinct personalities as you drink the wine. Consumed on its own and then also with rare red meat and simply prepared fresh vegetables. - A winner in my humble opinion and certainly can’t wait to see what it tastes like if left for a while.

Thanks again - this was great fun (and a good excuse to encourage some friends to share in the experience)

Edwin

P.S. I did purchase your recommended wines to do a 3 way blind tasting but haven’t gotten that far yet, perhaps this weekend ;-)

Hi we have had 6 bottles of Batavia and I am really enjoying it .I would like to pay around R45 per bottle for this wine even though I know it is worth more

Rudi

THANKS we did receive our consignment and we have tried the wine with everybody that was visiting. We have all agreed that the wine is smooth and soft and we would all be prepared to buy at R65 per bottle. This is affordable for the normal people like us! Thank you for giving us the opportunity to be part of the wonderful experience. Keep up the good work and reap the success of effort!

Magda

Baie dankie vir die Batavia, ek het dit laas week ontvang. Eerstens moet ek net sê “Well done!” Die is ‘n wyn met besonderse smaak en volheid vir ‘n 2008. En jammer, my mening kan ek nie staaf met breedvoerige kennis van wyn of beskrywende terme nie. Ek gaan dit wel waag: Die is ‘n sagte wyn met ‘n volronde smaak, nie te droog nie, gelukkig nie fruity nie, maar opmerklike na smaak wat moeilik is om te beskryf….ek wil amper sê soos ‘n baie ryp pruim/berry smaak met ondertone van oak (jinne ek klink nou amper soos ‘n wynkenner – ek weet net nie of ek dit nou heeltemal mis nie).

Saam met lam en rypgemaakte steak wat voorberei is met vars kruie sal die wyn nog meer uitstekend wees. Ek sou graag die kennis wou hê om die verouderings potensiaal van die wyn te probeer bepaal wat sekerlik ‘n verskil sal maak op die prys. Die wyn is egter niks minder werd as R45 per bottel nie. Stuur gerus vir my die volle bedrag wat aflewering insluit asook die nodige bankbesonderhede vir EFT.

Henk

A WONDERFUL wine!!! Yes a mouthful and taste! I get chocolate – very strong. I will open another bottle tonight and give it some serious thought. But yes I just love it!!

John

We did the tasting last night and all who were there enjoyed the BATAVIA, remarked on its accessibility and smoothness which probably caused by the Cab. Franc part being quite large. We debated the price for quite some time but by a democratic found settled on R. 80 per bottle.

RUDY

Have enjoyed the wine with many friends and did comparisons with your midnight call (a friend suggested that the name is misleading?? – his bottle only lasted till 7.00) and a few other blends. Consensus was not easy in my wine drinking circle and the range was from 45 – 80.i am happy to pay 60 so kindly forward this invoice. Must say that it was a really fun exercise and look forward to seeing what others thought. Many thanks for including me in the group

Bobby

My initial thoughts on the aromas is that the wine has a 'sweetness', a pleasurable smell of maybe chocolate and blueberries, with tiny bits of spice- not sure what it is maybe a vanilla. On tasting, I found the wine explosive on taste, yet extremely smooth on the tongue and taste buds. There were chocolately tastes too, maybe some caramel.........I thoroughly enjoyed this wine. I found it extremely easy to drink, it has the perfect balance - not too heavy, yet bordering on a certain lightness. We enjoyed it with chicken and I feel it's easy enough to drink with white meat although would be very nice with ostrich too. I truly enjoyed this experience and look forward to doing it again. I feel the wine should be valued at R50 a bottle. So that's what I'll put into you account? Thanks again - I'm dying to read up on the site now, post my thoughts.

Gill

I find your wine to be a very nice wine with lots of fruit and a great mouth feel. I would pay R80.00 a bottle. I took two bottles to wine club last week and, unfortunately, there was a bottle variation between the two. It was not corked or oxidised but the one definitely tasted a lot better than the other. The general consensus varied regarding the prices. Most people thought it was a Shiraz. Even the so called experts. The chairman of the club said he would pay R40.00 another guy said between R50 - R60.00 and another said R60.00 - R70.00. The Marketing Manager of the wine estate that presented to us that evening said he thought it was between R90 - R100.00. So I am not sure where we end up now and what price you should charge. I then took it to a function two days later, more of a private party, and the price tag there was also about R80.00.

I have received a case of Malbec 2006 from High Constantia and he has charged me R79.00. So on that note I guess I should say it is in the region of a R70.00 wine because I think it is made for drinking now and in the next two to three years. Not for keeping, although, having said that, I am definitely going to try one every year for the next 4 years. If I do not drink it all before then. Can't wait to hear all the other comments you have received and are going to receive.

Cheryl

Congratulations on the recognition. I enjoyed The Spaniard and will order more as my friends who here cleaned me out. By the way I tested Batavia on dinner guests on Friday night and they all liked it so hopefully you will have more customers. I did it blind and asked the price question before revealing anything and R60.00 was the average of eight people. I have also sent a bottle to a friend in Sedgefield who has just gone back so expect his response soon.

Dean

The wine had an appealing deep ruby colour. On the nose I pick up subtle cigar box and earthiness/farmyard combined with good fruit and wood. Good intensity. The palate has good structure and balance with soft tannins, red berry flavours and slight sweetness. The oak comes through but not too over powering. Good mouth feel with a long finish. Drinking well now but will improve over the next year or two. Definitely a wine to be enjoyed with food. I scored the wine 16.5 and I would not hesitate to pay R60.00 per bottle. Will make the payment in the morning. Please send me your bank details so I can do an electronic transfer.

Dean

PIETER - I WOULD BE PREPARED TO PAY R59 PER BOTTLE

1st bottle - acidic , high alcohols ....something amiss ...like a Swartland cinsaut gone wrong !

2nd bottle much better !!! Dusty spicy plummy cloves and cinnamon - alcohols need a year or two to settle - some good sweet plums and raspberry fruit on palate - not a classic Bordeaux blend by any stretch - lacks some gravitas - but an enjoyable wine , especially with lamb, steak and pastas - price bracket R 50 > R 75 -

cheers - Des

I'd say that would be about R45 per bottle. Please can you send me your banking details to finalise payment.

Edwin

Will try and recollect my thoughts... We drank the wine with quite a few friends (some of them quite intrigued by your label/concept!) and the overall consensus was that the wine is pleasant to drink, although still a bit young, but should be promising in a few years time. We thought it would go well with a hearty pasta dish. The average pricing came out at R35/bottle (I have paid you for 12 bottles already). Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your enthusiasm with us!

Emma

OK, jy vra nou iets wat ek nog nooit gedoen het nie - om te skryf hoe ek 'n wyn beleef het... This is difficult, as I'm no wine expert, and have never been on any course or tasting where I've been "taught" how to appreciate wine, and to describe it and such. I drink it, and then decide whether I like it. Or not. I don't drink beer because I don't like the bitter taste. Same reason why I don't like rum. Will drink some brandies and whiskeys. I don't go for a name. If I like it that's good. If not, also. I don't drink an expensive wine because it is expensive, or leave a cheap wine because it is. I drink what I like. Or don't drink what I don't like. Cheap or expensive.

I like red wine especially, but don't drink enough. Sometimes not even once a month. I love Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinotage. And Shiraz. I don't particularly like a strong, overwhelming wine - don't quite know how to describe it. Some of the best were Middelvlei and Backsberg CS's. Can't remember the vintages, but they were both at least ten years old. But they were "soft", easy on the tongue, yet full of flavour. That's the best I can do to describe them.

I find the Batavia interesting. You mentioned varieties/cultivars you used in the blend that I don't even know - as I said I'm an ignoramus. I find a couple of different tastes and flavours, but can't describe them. (I've never been able to figure out how to taste berries or nuts or such in a wine! Maybe I need to go and learn.) Some of the flavours of complementing. but it is almost as if there's a clash as well. Personally I think that maybe the wine needs to lay down a bit and loose some of the sharpness, the edge, and mature a bit. So that's what I'll do with it. I'll try and drink one more in the coming months and then let the rest lay for a year or so and see again.

My wife and kids (15, 12, 10) didn't particularly liked it. The kids liked it to the extent that they drank what they had in their glasses but didn't ask more. They don't quite like dry reds so much - preferring sweeter wines - yet sometimes they'll ask for more.

The wife did take some more. I asked her (obviously) what she thought of the wine, but didn't tell her how/where I got it, nor why I was asking. Her answer: "It is OK, but I'll not rush out to the shops for another bottle."

I do not even know what wines cost in the shop as it has been some time since I shopped, but I do know that some are horrendously expensive. So I need to use your prices as a guide. I think I'll pay in the order of R45 a bottle for this. Maybe only R40. But I'll give you R45.

Do you think that is fair?

Marius

I shared a bottle with Mercia and 2 friends and all of us thought it to be very good, I must say my preference is still the wine I bought at your last talk at my Rotary club I'm at work and I don’t remember the name exactly its 94 or something like that.

I will pay R60.00 a bottle.

Please send invoice.

Gordon

After receiving the promised wine Friday afternoon, I couldn’t wait to get home and open the first bottle and do the “taste thing”!! I must admit – I did what you suggested and took a large gulp of the BATAVIA. At first I was a bit disappointed at the prickly feeling (almost as when you drink champagne), I got on my tongue, but after the second sip I think it was the nachos I had that was responsible for that feeling (or maybe the gulp was too big a gulp), but like I said the second sip was a whole different story. I absolutely love dry dry red wine, and this was it! Definitely not a party wine for me, but one that I would share with my loved ones. Enjoy it slowly, with good music, good cooked meal and good company. The price I would be willing to pay was a difficult one for me to decide on. Will I be too low a price, can there ever be a too high a price for good wine? I decided I would play it safe! I surely don’t want to disappoint you, but would suggest a price that would fit my pocket then, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to buy the wine in any case. So for this exercise I’m paying you R40 per bottle. Surely because of the blend it won’t surprise me if the price could go up to R55 – R65 per bottle. (Or maybe not, I’ll wait for the expert’s response).

Hear from you soon!

Greta

I really think that your Batavia is a top class wine. I tried it along with 3 other “blends” from WW. No comparison, I did notice that your wine tasted “a bit young” however the next evening after a long breathing period it had a much more “mature” taste. It’s my personnel unbiased option and I will definitely order some more. I think that R69.00 is a fair price to pay.

I have done a ETF

Regards
Henk

Already bought a case from you and its lovely - easy of the palate well rounded body.
Really glad I got some
Dorothea

Apologies for the delay but herewith my rather uninformed but if anything honest opinion. The wine seems a bit lighter as what I would have expected to the taste and I do detect a bit of a smokiness but in general I like it. I do think if it matures a bit more of the taste would develop and create a bit better palate to my personal preference anyway. As to price I would say in the R50-55 bracket would make me buy it.

All of the best and thanks again for the opportunity.

Johan

I enjoyed the wine as one would a good wine. Although the nose was not extraordinary, the first mouthful (and subsequent) was a pleasant surprise of almost spicy fruit, as was the rather intense burst of fruit as the wine left the mouth. For myself, and a couple of the many people we enjoyed sharing the wine with, I found the aftertaste a little on the sweeter side rather than the usual dryer fruity taste of more traditional Bordeaux’s – such as your “Midnight Call” (excellent value) and the Danie De Wet Limestone Bordeaux blend. As with most of the red wines we have purchased from you over the years we have found them to be really good value wines.

As for pricing, we had the small group on a lower price – R49 (preferring a more traditional Bordeaux) and a larger group who enjoyed the slightly sweeter aftertaste at a higher price of R56 per bottle – the average that I feel reasonable for this wine then would be around R53 a bottle . I will be ordering more of your Midnight Call and the Batavia later in the week.

Good luck and thanks for the great wines.

John

As mentioned I am not a normal red wine drinker-I was very taken with BATAVIA-smooth with no after bite as I often experience with reds. Great body and the aroma’s distinct and mellow. Now the big challenge as I do not know the red wine market that well-please invoice me for R500-with thanks

Please send me your banking details so I can deposit R780,00 for the dozen Batavia.

Thanks

Kevin

Thanks we really enjoyed it – and thought R60 a bottle was what it was worth to us.

Thanks

Laura

Hiers my shot... die probleem waarmee ek sit is dat ek nie jou aanbod vir die die boks wyn wil proe nie vir twee redes:
1. Ek het alreeds die wyn as geskenk vir my verjaarsdag ontvang by die maker daarvan
2. Ek dink nie ek sal dit kan bekostig wat ek daarvoor sal prys nie ;-)
............. lang storie kort. Dis ‘n flippen lekker wyn. Dit het uitstekend aangepas by ons aandete Vrydag aand en het die ete gekomplimenteer met ‘n smaak vanuti die boonste rakke. Thanx daarvoor!
As ek nou regtig moet eerlik wees is my prys so +- R47.50 as ‘n minimum maar sou bereid wees om oor die R55 daarvoor te betaal.
Bless jou boeta!!!
Phillip

Die Batavia was weereens van hoogstaande gehalte, alhoewel ek oersoonlik meer van The Spaniard hou.
Kommentaar van ‘n paar van ons: 7 uit 10 in algemeen.
Die wyn is baie vrugtig, maar nie overwhelmingly nie. Middelpallet verdwyn, maar die wyn “last/ linger” op die pallet. Die hout karakter kom goed na vore. Daar is ‘n effe soet sensasie, wat nie suikers is nie. Prys: R59.
Vriendelike groete,
Piet.

Ek en 3 vriende het vrydag aand 'n blind tasting met Batavia en 3 ander Bordeaux blends gedoen... en ons het almal soos een man vir Batavia gestem vir eerste plek. That said, daar was omtrent R100 verskil tussen die top wyn en die goedkoopste wyn en daarom sal ons jou wyn bokant die derde bottel plaas wat die Beyerskloof Synergy was vir R72. Ons het dus besluit dat R85 'n geskikte prys vir jou nuwe release is. Nie een van ons is naby aan 'n wynkenner nie mar ons het almal gevoel dat Batavia as "kwalitiet" beskryf kan word. Onafhanklik of dit nou jou smaak of styl of voorkeur is - dis duidelik dis 'n kwaliteit wyn.
Dankie weereens vir die kans om te help prys - ons het baie fun gehad!
Riana

I had the most fantastic time playing around with the Batavia this weekend. Unable to wait for a weekend with friends, I popped the first bottle last week. I thought it had rich, dark fruits at first but with a moccha/chocolate toasted-wood taste dominating. Gentle tannins, soft fruit... quite a short finish. The rest of the bottle uncorked 24 hours later) developed beautifully. It became even more velvety with a taste that lingered on the palate. So I passed a bottle on to my dad, who's a huge fan of the coffee/pinotage style of wine, who drank it against a bottle of the KWV Cafe Culture Pinotage. A man of few words, he said "Smooth." :) He found the taste more subtle, but the wine far more mature than the KWV. Thumbs up all around, and he (a wine bargain hunter) priced it at somwehere between R39 and R50. Then on the weekend I did my little blind tasting with a few mates. I had to grab what I had on the shelf in a hurry and picked. Here's what they had to say about taste, food and price.

1. Zandfliet My Best Friend Red 07
- Dusty nose/old books, very dry. Very easy drinking/not too heavy.
Have with bolognaise, chicken
Price: R30 / R35 / R40

2. Kleine Zalze Pinotage 07
- No nose at all, round, soft, elegant/light. Delicate taste. Quite watery.
Have on its own / with fish
Price: R35 / R40 / R17.50 in beteen the tussies and the chateau lib. :)

3. The Batavia
Coffee / MMMMmm buttery / deep, dark, pungent fruits, fruity, (SO buttery). Soft, LOVELY!
Have with: Something heavier like a T Bone steak / chocolate chili number.
Price: R40-50 / R45 / R53

The Batavia was by far the best in show (and I think everyone was relieved that they hadn't insulted the one they were meant to be appraising that evening!) This was a blast, thanks. I'm pricing it at R50 if that's OK?
I had a blast. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!
Sarah

Thanks for the wine. Delivery within 2 days... And then to find the right moment for the opening- which was a Friday night just after I lit the fire. I was preparing the food for the braai and had the wine next to me, took good solid sip, and wham. This isn’t for drinking while prepping food, it’s for sitting down and appreciating. So I turned up the music and enjoyed it by myself for a few minutes. Beautiful, strong, smooth. I can taste it again right now. Thank you. Friends arrived and we appreciated it some more throughout the evening. My thoughts are R65.00 per bottle. Send over the invoice and delivery.
All the best and keep well. Hope we can catch up in Dec/January. We in `CT then. Will let you know more in a few days. Have to head off into the bush for a few days.
Shem

Ek het ongelukkig nie kans gehad om jou wyn behoorlik te oordeel nie. Ek is self nie ‘n kenner nie en kan daarom nie net drink en besluit nie. Ek het twee bottles saam geneem Inhaca eiland toelaas naweek. Een van die ouens wat saam was is in die wynbedryf en het gedink die wyn is ordinêr en in die R25 tot R30 klas. Die ander het dit geniet sonder om ‘n mening te gee oor die waarde. Ek koop gereeld ander tipes wyn in die R40 klas, en dink nie hierdie kom heeltemal daar iut nie. Ek dink R35 is wat ek daarvoor sal betaal
Theo

I took 3 bottles with me, which I shared with my Dad, and another bottle I shared with a German friend – we all found it immensely drinkable! It had a nice body, but at the same time did not require food accompaniment. Not a wine that I would lay down for years to come – it’s too nice to keep anyway. I would say it’s worth around R500 a case to me – about R42 per bottle. I would buy it again, and recommend it to friends.
Regards,
Wendy

Thank you again for the opportunity to taste the BATAVIA red wine. Really a great experience for me! As said in a previous e-mail to you, a good drinking wine to enjoy with loved ones, having a good cooked meal, settled with some nice music and having a nice calm and peaceful dinner! Not a party wine, it is much more worth, than having it drinking as quickly as a cheapie “wine-in-a-box”. My first gulp was a bit strong and sharp on the tongue, but I think the gulp was to big – thereafter – really really tasty!! Had some friends taste it as well, and was very much impressed, they could not believe the blends you used to put together BATAVIA. I did not tell the friends what I offered to pay you, and they were prepared to pay up to R55 – R60 per bottle. I only offered R40, and that is what I paid you! Sorry if it was not enough, I just thought I pay what I can afford, rather than not being able to have the wine. For this experiment I suppose it could work, surely in real life – this wine would be much more! I haven’t seen it at our Woolies in Louis Trichardt yet! Payment of R540 was made into your bank account on 23 November 09, reference GRETA
Greta

Ek kan vir jou sê dat die Batavia my laat dink aan my vrou en ons huwelik, ongeag die tyd of plek of onstandighede, sy is vir my die samevating van alles wat goed en mooi is!!! Maar ek is ‘n man in eenvoud en al wat ek te sê het van Batavia is dat dit ‘n baie lekker drink wyn is vir enige geleentheid. Dit los ‘n gemaklikheid met lekker sluk. Ek sal met gemak R70 per bottel betaal.
Groete
Koos

Your case of Batavia was received late last week, and we had a meeting of our local wine circle on Friday so I was pretty busy. The objective was to take a couple of bottles along for the crowd to taste but in all the excitement it didn’t happen, unfortunately. My wife, Rose, and I have tried two bottles, blind, and have been impressed both times. Rose has a better palate than me but is a bit lazy. Our impressions are that it is an excellent blend which is drinking very well now, and will probably go a couple of years – time will tell. Tasting it blind we missed the Pinotage component, it may take a bit more work on our part. I am currently wrestling with the payment project. In the interim I have ordered a couple of mixed cases of your Joel, Midnight Call and Spaniard. The Moment of Silence was brilliant but far too tempting so we flattened the case much before my initial intention. I have had a love affair with Bordeaux styles, both red and white for years, but am being weaned more and more to the Rhône style blends. It is still my intention to get you to present a tasting to our wine circle, I don’t know how frequently you tear yourself away from that lovely part of the world but we meet on the third Friday of every month between February and November. We generally have about 40 people at our meetings.
Pete

Thanks for sending the wine, I shared it with many friends and we really really enjoyed it and we had a few enjoyable evenings thanks to the excuse that we have to send feedback about this wine :) A chocolate/coffee taste/smell/note (I don't know all the correct terms) could be tasted, but it was nice and soft and not overpowering. The wine was well-rounded and some of us feel would taste even better after a year or two. We had it with pasta the one night, which was nice. The acidity is not as high as the typical Italian wines, so I enjoyed it more. We had it with beef fillet another night. Also great together, it even went well with the dark chocolate for dessert. Really versatile!

A couple of us also did a blind tasting the one night as you suggested. We compared it to Conradie Pinotage (R50), Diemersfontein Pinotage (2008) (R85), Boschendal Lenoy (?) and (Robertson Winery) Barista (R40). We have a bigger one with more of my friends planned for the 12th, I didn't realise the cut-off time for feedback is now. We will still do it though, and I will send you any interesting feedback from that tasting!

Anyway, I am not a wine guru, I just know what I like and what I don't and I really liked the Batavia. It is definitely a wine I would buy again. Our 'tasting panel' rated it as willing to pay between R40 and R50, so I think R50 per bottle is fair. Thanks once again that I could be part of this experience and looking forward to all your future wines! :)
Kind Regards,
Wineen

I’ve had mixed feedback on the wine, but the consensus – unfortunately – is that it is definitely not one of your better wines. Personally, I think it has great potential, and will be really divine in a couple of years (probably 5 to 7 or so), once it’s had a chance to settle a bit. Tasting feedback has largely centred around it having a very strong alcoholic nose, and the tannins being too strong, creating a lingering bitterness on the palate and in the mouth. Decanting hasn’t helped, though comments were definitely more favourable when tasting a bottle that had been left to stand open for two or three days first. I’ve had mixed comments about body, from “thin”, to “too strong”, so nothing useful to pass on there, I’m afraid. The wine was tried with a variety of foods (curry, stew, braai, roast, lamb, beef, pork, fish and vegetables), but didn’t really “click” with any of them, although it paired better with the stronger flavoured foods, particularly the braaied meats (which were heavily salted and spiced) and wasn’t too bad with seared fresh tuna. Was a disaster with the curry (tried with both Malay and Indian styles), and ok (but not great) with the stew and veg dishes.
In its current state, I’d probably pay about R35 in a Pick ‘n’ Pay or Checkers for a bottle, and might go back to pick up a couple more to see if it realises its aging potential, so that’s what I’ll pay you. If it was already there (ie already aged 5-10 years), I think it would fetch R200 easily. As it is, I’m going to lay what’s left of the case down, and haul it out in a couple of years – will let you know then. Incidentally, I’m down to my last few bottles of the very first wine I ever bought from you, around 2004 – the ISA 42 – most of which I laid down at the time, and it has turned into an absolutely superb wine! Regards,
Kerry

It’s been a bit hectic (that time of the year!) and have not been able to sit down with a couple of mates to enjoy a good tasting session. I have however opened a bottle and shared it with my wife. We compared it with "Inkspot", and the Batavia came close. The colour looks good, the initial taste was a bit backward but opened up later. The finish was nice, not long lasting. A pleasant wine with a good steak. I would offer R48: per bottle. Pieter please send the invoice, I will be away until 6th December. I will eft the amount to you then. Thanks for the opportunity
Gavin

Ek is hoegenaamd nie goed met wynpryse bepaal nie, maar laat ek probeer: Ek het die Batavia met die Midnight Call vergelyk, en ook met Eye of the Storm – nie om enige ander rede as dat ek hulle hier het nie.
Het ook tussenin 2004 Bon Courage Cabernet en ‘n spul 2003 Zandvliet Shiraz gedrink – wat sekerlik ‘n onregverdige vergelyking sou wees. Die Midnight Call is vir my effe lekkerder as die Batavia, maar hy is dan ook “grênder”.
Ek dink so R46 per bottel? Of is ek te “cheap”? Laat my weet? Groete,
Hendrik

I am so happy for you...I think they both deserve 5 stars!!!! I've got a friend who opened a Belgium coffee/restaurant shop in Edenvale - she would like to sell your wines by bottle/ by glass ( she is also a fan of yours) ... PS Batavia will do well as well....I loved it as much as your other wines -
Take care
Ann

As I said I was going to do, I tested the Batavia against a Spier blend (2004)(R 50 wholesale- a steal) and against Zonnebloem Shiraz (2006) (widely available) . There were eight people in the blind tasting and Batavia beat the Zonnebloem but was clearly not in the league of the Spier. I hope that the input will be useful. Regards,
Andre

Ons het toe vrydag aand die wynproe gedoen soos jy voorgestel het met die Batavia. Ons was 6 mense. Almal behalwe een het die Batavia as by verre die nommer een gestem. Vir die ander persoon was Batavia nommer 2. Die prys was almal voorgestel het was tussen R 45 en R50. Ek stem vir R50. Keep on keeping on ;-)
Alwyn

I am not a wine expert, but the wine is nice and my wife likes it too, especially after letting the bottle breath for half an hour....
I think R40 is a reasonable price.......
Thank you
Koos

I would say it is worth about R50 - R60 a bottle. I am new to the tastings, etc, but we really enjoyed the wine. My Mom and her husband (from Strand) was visiting and enjoyed it as much as we did. I also gave them a bottle to take back with them to Strand. She will also contacting yourself regarding a possible wine tasting evening for them at Serenitas, Strand. She has your telephone number. Her name is Gussie Basson.
Regards/Beste Wense
Susanne

Sorry for the late reply. I was on training and missed the deadline on your mail. But here it is in any case: I LOVE THE WINE!!!!!!! The difficult part for me is to put a price on something that I like so much. What a dilemma! I feel from a consuming side to say “make this a R10.00 bottle” so that I can keep on buying without looking at my wallet. The reality however is that this wine, on the way that I enjoyed the blend, is worth much more. I would easily pay R90.00 to R110.00 for a bottle of wine of the same quality in a good restaurant. So where does it leave me in deciding what to pay…. Well, I’ve had ? wine at R28.00 and Merlot blends at R38.00. This however should be in the R50 –R55 range according to me. I would think that a price tag of R52.00/bottle would entice me to order more.
I would like to see the result of this exercise when the “true” price is revealed.
Regards,
Danie

Apologies for my late reply. I have tried the BATAVIA and found it very pleasant. I had a small cheese and wine eve with some of my mates and they also extended favourable comments.
To identify a reasonable / realistic price for the BATAVIA benchmarked it to the Thelema Mountain Red 2005, which happens to be one of my favourites. Thus price wise I would say R55 per bottle
Regards
Ed

loved the wine and I think R 60.00 is on the low side - R 70.00 is a good price I think ( when compared to the other wines you have released)...hope it helps
Take care and have a stunning day -
Ann

Ek is nou nie die soort wynkenner(of proe-er) wat jou gaan tevrede stel met my siening oor die wyn nie, maar here goes, ek het Spaniard voor Batavia geproe en sommer die bottel sy boom laat sien (Bevonkte wyntjie). Batavia het die eerste proe-proe vir my 'n franc smaak gehad, maar met die 2de bottel het ek dit ge-decant in 'n glas decanter met 'n glas geslypte prop en die volgende aand toe kon ek ook hierdie wyn nie met rus laat nie. So wanner jy hierdie eienaardigheid klaar bepyns het stel ek voor vir 'n prys van R50-R55 per bottel. Laat weet wat die algemene siening van die ander mense was. Dankie vir die baie goeie wyne wat jy maak. Ek wag om te hoor van jou.
Dirk

I must apologise for not getting back to you! No excuse but I have been up to Johannesburg for a wedding and then on to Kruger for a week arriving back late Tuesday (to a VERY busy time in the practice!) Took 2 bottles of Batavia up to have in the Kruger while braaing. Nose – such wonderful aromas ...berries but something that I cannot put my finger on??? Perhaps a varietal that is unfamiliar to me Yes the taste. I think it is one of your best! Full bodied, well balanced. Good flavours, again berries. Wood comes through. But again something that I do not know. Cinsaut in the blend???? Surely there must be cabernet??? Just cannot wait to hear. Price – I know that it costs to produce a good wine. But then again your overheads must be on the low side. So how much would I pay???? Do you think R65 is too little? If it cost more I would be happy to pay. I’m off home now and will open another bottle of Batavia and dream on the night up in the Kruger........
John

How do I pay Pieter? - I'll pay R 70.00 - hope this is not too low - Take care
Ann

Last evening my wife and I tasted it and finished the bottle. I put it at R65- a bottle. Sorry not to have been able to participate more extensively.
Cheers
John

Die wyn is net so goed soos die voriges
Minstens R50 sou ek sê
Oom rocco

i am in hospital. i would say R30.00 per bottle
paul

Thanks - I will transfer funds through before the end of the day. Happy to pay you for the (case of 6 R225) or R450.00 (inclusive of delivery ?). Hope that's a fair price? It's a lovely wine for my taste - but I am a social drinker and usually prefer Red. Please let me know if your banking details remain the same.
Best regards
Dorothea

Week Report - The new "Moment of Silence", new Chenin, Great White tasting and Parlotones white blend...

2009-11-23T02:57:00.000-08:00

Monday 9 November 2009: Early morning off to Wellington. I am busy working on my new white blend: “Moment of Silence 2009”. The first “Moment of Silence 2007” was released February 2008 as an experiment under the BLANKbottle label. It was a blend between equal parts of barrel fermented Chardonnay, Chenin blanc and Viognier. It turned out to be just one of those fabulous wines that I would love to repeat. I therefore decided to separate the “Moment of Silence” from the rest of the BLANKbottle range and give it a personality and brand of its own. Beginning 2009 I selected grapes, worked with the viticulturist and winemaker and produced 3 batches of wine. These wines will go into the blend for the “Moment of Silence 2009”. The wines are all still in barrel and Monday morning was the first tasting in a long process in assembling the blend. I also drove through the vineyards with the viticulturist to get a feel for the 2010 harvest. We also looked at some new blocks of Chenin we will be experimenting with this year. Had a awesome morning in the vineyards.

On my way back I picked up a pallet of wine from my warehouse and dropped it at my mom’s house. For those of you who don’t know, my mom, Alana, does my distribution. A few years back I bought her a computer as well as internet. She did the computer course at the University of the Third Age and she now monitors the orders and distribution of my wine deliveries.

After a quick stop at the office I met up with a new wine friend for a beer. The evening I wrote a short newsletter for my clients and went to bed early.

Tuesday 10 November 2009: I headed to the Simonsberg for a routine tasting and then again to Wellington to drop wine samples with a colleague. Later the afternoon we had a early dinner and wine tasting at a friend’s house high up in the Helderberg. He’s helping me with my the new “Moment of Silence 2009”.

Wednesday 11 November 2009: ANOTHER wine tasting. This time round to the Great White Tasting. There were 3 speakers on the day. Eben Sadie (SADIE Family vineyards), Peter Fischer (French wine maker) and Greg Sherwood (UK master of wine). We tasted fascinating international and local wines. After a great lunch and a media briefing I left to present a wine tasting at a wine club in Somerset west. We had a great time.

Thursday 12 November 2009: Was a long day. We are busy working on the new wine for the rock band, the Parlotones. We got together at the Cape Grace Hotel in the Waterfront and the band joined us as they arrived back from their world tour. Glen and Paul was stuck in Joburg, so it was Kahn and Neil that joined us for the blending. We tasted in the region of 60 wines and ultimately came up with something we all liked. Unfortunately I cannot give you any info on the wine at this stage. The only thing I can tell you is that the wine is completely different to anything you’ve tasted before. We still have work to do on the wine but so far so good. We waited in the Bascule bar for Glen and Paul to catch up and we all then headed for Headquaters, a restaurant in Cape Town. To make a very long story short, I arrived back home after 1 am. Allan Mullins (Head wine selector for Woolworths) joined us for the tasting and blending but then headed off to the launch party for the John Platter wine guide. During dinner he SMS’ed me. BLANKbottle JOEL 2008 and BLANKbottle The Spaniard 2007 both received 4 stars in the new John Platter. Can you believe it! I have never before presented my wines to tasting panels.

Friday 13 November: Caught up on some admin during the day and then, that evening, we had special seats booked for the PARLOTONES live at Grand West. We dropped the kids with my Parents-in-law and rocked the night away like teenagers...

Weekly report - A trip to the BIG SMOKE

2009-11-23T01:21:00.000-08:00

GOODNESS this was a rough one – a weeklong trip to Joburg - the BIG SMOKE! Unfortunately I cannot write a detailed week report this time round due to meetings with the management of new highly confidential ventures I am involved with.

ANYHOW, Woolworths invited me to join them at their stall at the Johannesburg WINEX as one of the representatives to their new wine section called HANDS ON WINE (which BLANKbottle forms part of). Attending the WINEX is one of those things that I said I’ll never do, as I saw no benefit in me hanging with the competition. I would much rather spend time with the consumer. I subsequently avoided all wine shows. But you can’t hide forever. I arrived Tuesday and headed for Sandton Convention Centre. After a long night I arrived back at my Brother-in-law’s place, where I stayed. At 5 am the next morning, Nika, their 3 year old woke me up and asked me to read her some books! At 7 am I headed out to Sandton for breakfast with the Woolworths and Hands on Wine team. We then went to Sandton City Woolworths to meet up with management and to learn a bit on how the retail trade works. I left at 11 am and headed to a location in Sandton to present my business to a large initiative. Finished at 3 pm and rushed off to Melrose Arch to meet up with the team at Melrose Arch Woolworths. Then back to the convention centre for the WINEX. The next morning I had to be in Sandton at 8:30. I did another confidential presentation till 11 am and then another one from 12 to 3pm. Thereafter I went to another location where I presented a wine tasting – food and wine pairing at a restaurant in Sandton. We had 50 people, a 4 course meal and plenty of wine. I sold more than 600 bottles of wine on the night. Can you believe it! The most successful wine tasting I’ve ever presented!

Got in bed late that evening and back to Sandton at 8:30 the next morning for another confidential presentation till 10am. Then an extremely interesting meeting from 11 to 12 and then the last confidential presentation from 12 to 3pm. Had lunch with the team and then off to the last WINEX evening... Celebrated my birthday after the WINEX and woke up at 5 the next morning, headed for the Silver bird back to Cape Town after an immense intense super exciting trip to the BIG SMOKE. What a week!

Week report - Nominated for Marketing and branding business of the year..

2009-11-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

Monday 12 October: This week started off with an 2 hour interview with the Chamber of Commerce. BLANKbottle was nominated for business of the year, Marketing and Branding for the second year in a row. BLANKbottle won it in 2008.

We finished off the designs for my new wine BATAVIA, signed the quotes off and booked a spot in the printing factory.

Tuesday 13 Oct: I spend the day on the road collecting components for our new highly confidential white blend. Extremely exiting!!!! I went to all my favorite places. I started the search in the vineyards. It’s essential have continuous future access to all the vineyards where the different components of the wine grows. We identified great vineyards and I got a few interesting components.

Wednesday 14th: A MASSIVE tasting with “The BOSS” and the dream team. This was the second blending session. We all learned a lot and made a few decisions. We are still far away from the final product – it usually take months… A few days later we went back to the drawing board and got even more components for the 3rd session. We arranged another tasting and got together again. This time round we narrowed the blend down to only 2 possible combinations. I cannot tell you much about this but the wine is something way different. I’ve never tasted a wine like this in my life before…

Thursday 15th: Stopped by “Cooked in Africa films” and watched episode 6 of Exploring the vine, a reality TV show. For Episode 6, the presenters featured their choice of the Renegades of the wine industry. They featured Charles Back from Fairview (a Marketing genius), Achim von Arnim from Haute Cabrière , Eben Sadie (The wine spectator labels him as the best winemaker in the Southern Hemisphere) and me. BLANKbottle features as one of the Renegades with Eben, Fairview etc. What a compliment!!!!

Friday the 16th: As usual we had our customary week-end braai. I then headed off with a borrowed tux to for the Chamber of Commerce Awards Evening, a black tie event at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. JennaVIVA Lifestyle & Home Concept and eatery took the Marketing and Branding trophy for which BLANKbottle got nominated. Check JennaVIVA out - 206 Main Road Somerset West. A worthy winner...

Weekly report - Almost got locked up...

2009-11-04T04:34:00.000-08:00

Monday 5 Oct: I needed a Woolworths trolley for a BLANKbottle photo shoot, but almost got locked up when I went to fetch it at Somerset Mall. The fun and games ended for the 12 security guards when the Woolworths management confirmed that I did pre-arrange it with them and really did have clearance to take it… Nothing wrong with Somerset Mall security, I can tell you that much!!! See the photo below:

Tuesday 6 Oct: I e-mailed all my clients about my involvement in the making of GIANT MISTAKE 2008, the official wine for South Africa’s best selling rock band, The Parlotones. It was such an awesome experience and definitely worthy of its own newsletter. Click here to read my newsletter on the wine and watch the movie we made with the band. Again I received massive feedback. M-NET featured the launch party on ALL Access, Thursday evening. Great publicity for BLANKbottle. I e-mailed my press release and ended the week off with another braai at the office ( a more civilized 2-hour one).

My new wine: You decide the price, AGAIN!

2009-10-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

Would you like to help me decide the price of my new wine? It's called BATAVIA - The first Cape blend for BLANKbottle. (A Cape Blend is a Bordeaux style blend that consists of at least 20% Pinotage) This specific wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot / Cabernet franc and Pinotage.

If you see yourself as somewhat of a BLANKbottle fan, I'd appreciate your opinion of and pricing suggestion for BATAVIA. The first time I did this was with the "Moment of Silence 2007". I then only selected the first 20 clients who replied, but this time round (as I did with "EYE OF THE STORM 2007") it's open to everyone who's bought wine from me before. Reply to this mail with your delivery details and I'll deliver a case of wine to your house, at no immediate cost. You then have until 16 November 2009 to assess the wine, decide what you think the wine is worth in terms of BLANKbottle's unique pricing proposition and pay me exactly that (as well as standard delivery fees). Please note that this is not free wine, it's merely shopping with a difference! (please see below for conditions and procedure)

Based on your feedback, I will then determine the price I will sell the rest for.

Of course I have in mind what I think it's worth and what it should sell for, so let's see if this exercise turns out favourable for me! Hope you're up for the challenge.

*PROCEDURE & CONDITIONS:

1. Only clients who've bought from BLANKbottle in the past qualify to take part.
2. Email/phone me with your delivery details and telephone number.
3. Please respect the intention of the exercise - this is not a means of acquiring cheap wine for weddings, funerals or parties! (Rather don't ask...) I will therefore have the final say in who gets selected to take part and send each one a case of wine on consignment.
4. Enjoy the wine and decide what you think it's worth.
5. Pay me what you decide the wine is worth plus the delivery fee.
SIMPLE!

Wine as a Corporate gift, my take on the subject.

2009-10-19T06:44:00.001-07:00

I receive plenty of queries when it comes to wine as a corporate gift. And my answer is almost always: Of course I can help! - being it bottling the client's own wine, relabeling existing wines with his own label or just selling wine without labels! But for what it's worth, I thought I might give you my personal take on the subject in time for year-end:

If I receive a bottle of wine with a label reading: "Joe Neethling Financial Services (Pretoria Branch) Bordeaux blend 2007", I would (due to the horrible habit of preconceived ideas) most probably think to myself: Well, Joe definitely didn't make it, he provides Financial Services in Pretoria, so he probably bought some cheap unlabelled wine and labelled it himself. Bottom line: I would assume the wine is of inferior quality.

On the other hand; if I receive as corporate gift a bottle of "BLANKbottle The Spaniard 2007", fully labelled with BLANKbottle labelling, with a extra smaller label reading something along the lines of : "In association with Joe Neethling Financial Services (Pretoria Branch)", I would appreciate the fact that Joe gave me a product that he associates himself with and a product that has credibility. I could then experience the BLANKbottle adventure with Joe i.e. SMS'ing the batch name in order to find out what the blend is made up of, searching the web, watching the movie online, reading up on the wine etc.

Just my biased opinion... So if you're considering wine as a corporate gift, drop me a mail so that we can get the ball rolling as soon as possible.

The Hit Man is on the move: The making of 2 short films as well as the new 60 sec add.

2009-10-15T04:56:00.000-07:00

My brother, Xaver, lives in Switzerland. Whenever he is here in South Africa my life is not my own. He arrived the week before but this week we started off Monday Morning at 4:30 am by heading off to Voor Paardeberg to film the next episode of “Finding the rock stars of the wine industry”. The Hitman is on the move again... It starts with a sunrise scene of distant rolling hills of the Swartland. Breathtaking! Mathew Copeland, winemaker of Vondeling, took us to the top of Paardeberg. A hectic 4x4 route and his Toyota really impressed...

There are many consumers who won’t drink wine from certain wine producing areas in the Western Cape, who according to them, cannot make good wine. But as I stood there on the top of the Paardeberg, I realised that all these so-called areas are right next to eachother. Malmesburg is actually situated right next to the ocean. Gazing towards Table mountain I see Durbanville right in front of me, Constantia and Tulbach in the distance, Paarl to the one side, Riebeeck Kasteel to the other, Darling closer to the ocean, and Wellington to the back.

I am not saying that these areas have the same climate and will therefore produce similar wines, no! What I am saying is that all these areas have the potential to make something extraordinary. Yes, the vineyards of all these areas will differ and therefore the wine styles, but so does one vineyard to the one next to it, even on the same farm. It differs as the soil changes. If you are in the wine industry, people tend to focus on areas and it makes it feels so big and glamorous, but in fact it is so very small. Everyone knows everyone and we are all on top of each other. Fascinating that we can all produce wines that is so different... Maybe we should stop looking at areas where we think people could make wine or can’t... Let’s rather focus on the potential of a block of grapes, regardless of area. Let’s look at the soil, the microclimate etc. and then decide if we have the guts to invest into that specific block. I personally believe that all the areas that I could see from Paardeberg have incredible potential. Different cultivars, different wines, different styles... but with one thing in common: LOADS OF POTENTIAL! According to the history books, our wine industry is 350 years old. This gives us the privilege to have ample old vines. But according to history, again, our wine industry’s been exposed to the international trade for only 15 years. So I recon our industry is only 15 years old then. We now have some of the best and innovative winemakers in the world. They are scattered throughout the Western Cape and only starting to scratch the surface when it comes to wine innovation. Truly exciting times. Anyhow, we shot the interview with Matthew Copeland of Vondeling on the top of the Paardeberg.

Back to the office on Monday afternoon we sat at the drawing table until Tuesday afternoon. We were planning the 60 second commercial we have to make where the “Hitman” is commissioned by the boss to find the “Rock stars of the wine industry”. We finalised the script way back, but nothing wanted to work. We wanted to use the SA NAVY in the opening shot but they said no, we could not find a suitable board room to do the second scene and the jazz band cancelled on us. I do not want to go into detail but great friends and family came to our rescue. With family like this; I am not too sure you can do everything, but you can at least try everything...

On Wednesday morning Xaver and myself seriously considered postponing the shoot. We prayed about it and decided to give it one more day of trying to see if things work out. While bottling 2 new wines by hand, I phoned everyone I know who might be able to help us. By Wednesday evening, and plenty of MIRACULOUS happenings later, we had everything in place. We planned a 8 am start for the next day. As I sat down on the couch, glass of wine in hand, I received a e-mail on my Blackberry. It was from Siskha, the right hand of “the dangerous one”. The venue where we were supposed to shoot the 2 main scenes, (the yacht and the bar scene) cancelled on us. Luckily we planned to shoot these scenes only on Friday. Xaver came over and we again considered stopping everything. We did the sums and realised that there are just too much at stake. We had to now push through.

Early on Thursday morning we shot the first scene with the Kaapse Klopse at Shofar Christian Church’s head office on Oude Molen, Stellenbosch. They gave us free use of the venue. Our actors were my wife, my brother in law, my father-in-law, a friend of a friend and the main guy (can’t tell you who that was). Our friends came to help behind the scenes while the remaining family did babysitting while my family was acting... We had heaps of fun! During the morning The Cape Grace Hotel in Cape Town came to the rescue. We could make use of their bar for the following day’s bar scene. Later the day “The BOSS” phoned me and made the suggestion that we make use of a limo, rather than the yacht... And that’s how it all came together...

Day 2 at the Cape Grace hotel: We shot the first scene of the day in their lobby, the second scene down in their Bascule Bar and the last in a 4x4 Land Rover limousine in front of the hotel. The hotel personnel assisted in some of the supporting roles. Bottom line: we wanted to make a world class commercial for the wine industry. The problem with that is that selling wine will never produce enough revenue to fund the commercial . You therefore want to do amazing things on a tight budget. And that’s where one’s friends and family comes in. That evening when we left the Cape GRACE at 00h00, I just realised that without God’s GRACE we are lost... and our dreams will just stay exactly that...a dream!

The Parlotones - GIANT MISTAKE 2008

2009-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

My Woolies adventures created a few spin-offs, opened a few doors for me some might say. One (a pretty huge one) is the fact that I had the privilege to be part of the team who created an official wine for South Africa’s biggest rock band - The Parlotones. The wine, “GIANT MISTAKE 2008”(named after their number 1 hit single), also sells under the new HANDS ON WINE range in selected Woolworths stores .

What an awesome experience to be involved with this project – an absolute roller coaster ride! We started off about 6 months ago with a pie in the sky dream and now, 5 months down the line, we’ve made a wine with a rock band, produced a 30 second advertisement, finalized packaging and had the official launch! But by far the most exciting part of this whole project to me, was producing the official movie for the wine with the band. Join me in this incredible journey by viewing the 7-minute movie below.

I’m featuring as Mr BLANKbottle in the movie, a runner for THE BOSS... (never say never)

My brother, AGAIN made the film. View his BLOG HERE:

Weekly report - Woolies launch and more...

2009-10-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

As my brother got on the plane back to Switzerland, things slowly returned to semi-normal.

Monday 28 September: A BIG, no, HUGE! day for BLANKbottle! The official launch of 2 new BLANKbottle wines in 28 Woolworths stores countrywide. Click here to read my official press release. My family and I went to the Somerset Mall Woolworths to take pictures and have lunch at the coffee shop to celebrating the big day. The rest of the week I was swamped with e-mails after telling my clients about BLANKbottle’s new venture. I was totally taken aback by the amount of feedback. Click here to read what my clients had to say.

Rest of the week: Since my brother Wilhelm started helping me here at BLANKbottle, we’ve been looking at Facebook as a tool to communicate to even more clients. Initially I didn’t like it much but he insisted that we give it a go. He moved our group over to a “Fan Page” and reloaded everything. Let’s watch this space. I think we are on to 120 fans now.

Friday 2^nd October: We ended the week off with the customary braai at the office. The idea is to have a quick braai from 12 – 2pm, and then still get in a few work hours before the week officially ends. The few more work hours didn’t happen today..

After telling my clients about the Woolies deal, I received massive feedback. See below:

2009-10-02T22:13:00.000-07:00

WHY NOT HERMANUS WOOLWORTH? Congratulations and we will look out for your wine - pity we have to drive over the pass to get some!!Well done!!

Great news about Woolworths putting your wine on their shelves, All glory to God. Love to hear the story behind the deal.

Boet it is huge. I know you want to keep it personal, but linking with Woolies is a serious deal. Now you have to balance how to keep being a rock star with being a corporate winner! A good prospect to have. Congrats again mate.

"Congrats, Pieter. Wel gedaan. Jy verdien die sukses met jou fantastiese wyne! Up, up and away from here on out."

Thank you for your email, and congratulations! May you go from strength to strength. Blessings to you all,
Awesome news and a great Congratulations to go with it.

Good for you! I will try Woolies and order again soon!

Well done and congrats! Still wish you would get a heavy chardonnay in your range!

CONGRATULATIONS !!! this is absolutely wonderful (even if the 'chosen ones' will now have to share the secret). I will definitely get some at Woolworths. Congrats once again & let it run...right in the bottles..

Just spent 30 minutes on Youtube catching up on your videos. LOVE DIT! Ek’s nou so dors vir ‘n glasie… as ek net nie swanger was nie… hmmmm! Congratulations

Ongelooflik bly saam met jou/julle!!! Geniet die dag, en dit wat gaan uitvloei uit dit uit! Lekke lekke
Congratulations Pieter. ‘Way to go!

ALEXA and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN will soon be house guests.

Spokie, het Youtube besoek en ai ou, dis sommer net epic!!! Well done meneer ek is flippen bly vir jou en celebrate dit sommer net saam met jou!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mixed feelings about this. Great that Woolworths have given you the nod but hopefully they aren't going to kill it with the price. Would be nice if Waterstone was added to your list? Enjoyed your article in weekend paper, good review.

Carel het jou woolies-mail na my toe aangestuur, my kaak sleep oppie grond rond! Sjoe sjoe sjoe, kyk net die Here se guns oor jou lewe, dude! Wou net seg – well done! En as dit enigsins vir jou iets beteken – ek’s geensins ‘n wynvlieg nie, carel kry my baaaaja stadig inie rooiwyndinge in, mar na ek jou Spaniard geproe het, was ek helemal hooked :) Baie blessings vir jou en A enni kids, kyk mooi na julself,

First off would like to congratulate you on getting Blankbottle into Woolies, I know a very hard thing to get as I have had previous clients who also went down the line.

wow, pieter, dis amazing!!!
BAIE BAIE geluk, dis great om te sien hoe die Here jou besigheid en passie seën! ons moet plan maak vir 'n kuiertjie een of ander tyd...
I just wanted to say Congratulations.
I will be running off to Woolies ASAP.
Congratulations Pieter, hope this turns out to be something very big for you.
Excellent news!! Congratulations. Looking forward to picking up the vino at the local woolies!
Pieter congrats.U must be very proud of yourself. Enjoy. Love

Baie geluk Peter, jy verdien die eer wat jou toekom!

Wow!! Dit is fantastiese nuus! A big congratulations to you! What an achievement! Enjoy every moment of your fame!

EPIC!!!!!!!!

Baie geluk! Nou moet jy net Woolworths in Stellenbosch Square kry om dit ook aan te hou.

Pieter you are truly blessed, this is a positive coup! Your brand has done so incredibly well, it just seems to go from strength to strength! God is great!!!

Well done! Baie opgewonde v julle!

You're a legend. Watched you from the start (Bus Warriors), great to see you cooking. "Always paddle out!"
Congratulations on this achievement. It must be a great step for you. I however feel a bit sad. It feels like 'our family' will now be everybody's business! Hehehehehe..... Will the price be affected? Is Woolworths pushing the price up and will these wines still be available directly from you without the markup? Or is part of the deal with Woolies that those botles will only be available through them? Just wondering.

Congratulations. This is no doubt a testament to your passion and skill as a wine maker. Even though they are a big corporation it is no doubt a feather in your cap! Well done. I will go and source a bottle of the Boss this afternoon.

Baie geluk Pieter, ek het vir al my vriende wat wynliefhebbers is aangestuur en hulle motiveer om na die tyd direk van jou wyn aan te vra. Hoop besigheid kom so in vir jou.

Baie geluk Pieter. Bly om te sien die meeste Woolies winkels rodom my in Pretoria sal dit aanhou! Mag jy nog vele verassings soos hierdie kry! Met jou kwaliteit teen die pryse wat jy die wyn beskikbaar stel, verdien jy dit dubbel en dwars!

Absolutely fantastic news! Love your short films!!! Love the Parlotones and good compliment to your wine films, both unique. I am sure that I will be one of the first purchasing your wines from Woolies. Still waiting to get Giant Mistake on the shelves but I suppose it will be worth the wait!

Congratulations, Pieter
I still remember you personally delivering my box of wine on a very hot day!
Congratulations Pieter, what a big feather in your cap. I am looking forward to our next trip to PE and a visit to Woolies in Greenacers, unfortunately our Woolies in Port Alfred does not have a wine section (yet).

Congratulations – we are sure to support you via the Woolworths avenue – well done!

Well done Spooksters! Het geweet jy gaan hom deurdruk toe ons al maande terug gesels het hier in my kantoor. Baie geluk met die deal.

That is absolutely AWESOME!!!!! Congratulations! And best of all, my tiny local woolies is on the list. May you continue from strength to strength.

well done pieter.. dis vrek impressive en wel verdiend! Eks baie bly vir jou

Well done, Pieter!! What brilliant news. I will definitely look out for you in WW, and gladly smile with you when I see you there! And buy a bottle to proudly take to a dinner party to show u off! J

Dear Pieter - you know we are a huge fan of yours and will make sure to give you feedback- you deserve the success - how do we get hold of the wines you made for the Parlotones -? Take care and say hi to your beautiful family ( including your mum and dad whom I have had the privilege of meeting)

Ek dink jy het hierdie netelige kwessie baie goed hanteer met hierdie boodskap.

Will definitely keep an eye out

Excellent! Congratualtions - you deserve it!!

The BOSS MOVIE

2009-09-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

We made a new short film for BLANKbottle THE BOSS Shiraz / Zinfandel 2008. Buy in selected Woolworths stores...

Watch ALEXA's movie

2009-09-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Watch our WINE / SURFING film for Woolworths. BLANKbottle ALEXA Chenin blanc Viognier 2009 is exclusive to Woolworths South Africa... GO AND BUY IT!!!

Breaking news: BLANKbottle in WOOLWORTHS

2009-09-29T02:54:00.000-07:00

“Would you like to have your wines in Woolworths?” This simple sentence rocked the world of BLANKbottle, and today, 6 months down the line, I have the priviledge to see it become a reality! BLANKbottle on the shelves in selected Woolworths stores nationwide!

Now, to backtrack, the most obvious answer to that question would be: HALLO? Are you kidding ? – OF COURSE I would like to have BLANKbottle in Woolworths!?! But it’s not that simple to me (yes, I ACTUALLY didn’t say yes right away!) I had some serious thinking to do – it was never my intention to stock BLANKbottle in any wine shop or restaurant. I only wanted to sell straight to you, the consumer. But I realized that this would ultimately connect me with even more people, which is, as you well know by now, my passion. So my answer was yes ( not realizing at the time that there are wineries who lobby for years to have the same priviledge!)

Woolworths has launched a new wine section called HANDS ON WINE – its mission being to identify the, so to speak, “Rock stars of the wine industry” – winemakers with a fresh, unique edge to winemaking.

So today is the official release of my two new wines in Woolworths: BLANKbottle The BOSS Shiraz/Zinfandel and BLANKbottle ALEXA Chenin blanc/Viognier 2009. These batches of wine are exclusive to WOOLWORTHS. You will not be able to buy them on my website. At the same time, none of the wines I release or sell on my website will be available through Woolworths. And you can be sure of my continued commitment to provide you with interesting wines on my website, as that is, and will always be, the heart of BLANKbottle.

Hands on Wine asked me to again produce short films for the wines. For a sneak preview you can watch the 2 short films we produced on my website or on YouTube. So please buy a bottle in Woolworths, watch the films, and send me your feedback. I’ll be selecting three random names from the feedback, who will each get a mixed case of BLANKbottle wines delivered to their door.

I’d like to end this newsletter off by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to you. If it wasn’t for you, your support and your feedback, BLANKbottle would not be. So when you see that BLANKbottle on the Woolworths rack, please smile with me when you think of where we started!

WHICH WOOLWORTHS’ STOCK BLANKBOTTLE?

Western Cape

V&A WATERFRONT
DURBANVILLE CBD
TYGER VALLEY
BLUE ROUTE
SOMERSET MALL S/WEST
CANAL WALK
CAVENDISH SQUARE
WELGEMOED
GROOT CONSTANTIA

Eastern Cape

WALMER PARK PE

Gauteng

MOKOPANE
PARKVIEW KIMIAD PTA
BROOKLYN PTA
CRESTA JHB
EASTGATE JHB
SANDTON CITY JHB
MENLYN PTA
MELROSE ARCH JHB
LOCH LOGAN BLOEM
WATERKLOOF RIDGE
SOUTHDALE
CARLTONVILLE
WONDERPARK
HARTEBEESPOORT
SUMMIT ROAD
WATERKLOOF FRANCHISE

A GIANT MISTAKE, Neil Pendock, movies and more....

2009-09-27T01:22:00.000-07:00

I started the week off on a high note. A Sunday lunch with “The Dangerous One”, Allan Mullins (Cape wine master and wine selector for Woolworths), Jabulani (Woolies' wine category manager), Neil Pendock (one of the best wine writers in South Africa) and Siskha Brand (right hand to “The Dangerous One”). I haven’t told you but Woolworths asked me to be involved in the winemaking process and team producing a wine called “GIANT MISTAKE 2008”. The wine is the official wine for the South African rock band, “The Parlotones” (www.theparlotoneswine.com). What an awesome experience – an absolute roller coaster ride! We started off by meeting the band members and making trail blends. Now, 5 months down the line, we’ve made a wine with a rock band, produced the official movie for the wine (view it on YouTube), produced a 30 second advertisement, finalized packaging and had the official launch! The wine making team (otherwise referred to as the dream team) consist of: Allan Mullins (Cape Wine Master), Hugo Truter (Winemaker at Wamakers valley), Pieter-Neil (Assistant winemaker at Wamakers), myself and then, of course, last but certainly not least, the band; Kahn, Paul, Neil and Glen. Our Sunday lunch started off at Constantia Uitsig at 12h00 and I only arrived back at the Cape Grace at 7pm. We tasted GIANT MISTAKE and had some more fabulous wines such as Ataraxia Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Bouchard Finlayson. Read here what Neil Pendock had to say in the Sunday times.

On Monday I took 4 new BLANKbottle wines in for final lab analysis and we prepared for the official launch of GIANT MISTAKE 2008 at the Cape Grace hotel, V&A waterfront.

Wednesday was the official launch day for The Parlotones wine, GIANT MISTAKE. What a fantastic evening! We arrived at the Cape Grace and received a glass of Woolworths, imported French champagne.After socialising a bit and attending to interviews, they screened the official movie for the wine. You can view it on their website www.theparlotoneswine.com or on youtube. Allan Mullins (The Boss) then made his appearance by giving an incredibly inspirational speech and ended it off by singing “ That's Amore (When the moon hits' your eye...)” While Allan was speaking, we each received a glass of GIANT Mistake. What a treat! Thereafter was the highlight of the evening: The PARLOTONES, LIVE!!!!! See photos here

Earlier that week I had a revelation that if one stops running and stare at the crowd, you will stumble and fall. I therefore decided to keep my head down and keep on running – literally! I decided to arrange a bottling session for the day after the launch. So instead of attending the after party, I got up at the break of dawn the next day and Wilhelm, Tony, Willem, Frans and myself bottled 2 new wines by hand. And that’s a first for me! (bottling by hand, not going to bed early...) We bottled 1900 bottles in the one day. What a thrill! Unfiltered and unfined. I will be telling you more when the wine is released.

Friday morning I got up even earlier (at 4:30) and Xaver (my brother who made the movies), Wilhelm (my other brother) and myself headed off to the Swartland. The Hitman is searching for the Rockstars of the wine industry. Yes, we are making films again... We spent the whole day

with Adi Badenhorst from Badenhorst family vineyards, ex Rustenberg winemaker.

Why do I cycle? Interview by TREAD magazine...

2009-09-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

Many of my clients wants to know why I cycle in some of my short wine films. Recently TREAD magazine asked me the same questions. See below for my answers:

Age: 33

Location: Somerset West

Day job: Winemaker/Business owner www.blankbottle.co.za

Mountain bikes you’ve owned: GIANT Trance 2, GIANT HALO 1

Tell us a bit about your current bike: Full suspension all terrain bike.

How did you get into mountain bike riding? I was diagnosed with epilepsy 18 months ago and booked off driving for a year. As a small business owner I was forced to get to vineyards, wineries and clients. I subsequently started cycling as an alternative way of transport. I literately cycled thousands of kilometers within that year.

What do you like most about mountain bike riding? Time to think! My business is driven by innovation, in wines as well as marketing. I’ve come up with the best ideas while cycling….

Do you ride any trails? If so, which is your favourite and why? No, I’ve done a few but I use my bike as an alternative way of transport. I cycle dirt roads on wine farms as well as on the road. My best “trail” therefore was a short cycle from Malgas to Witsand.

Do you ever ride under the influence of wine? Never! Wine is my life. I sometimes start my day of with barrel tastings. I learned to always spit while tasting wine for work.

Any special diet you follow? Nope. I do not compete…

When did you last crash off your mountain bike? Somerset West Main Street. I went over the handle bars in front of all the traffic. Fell really hard. Luckily my laptop still works. (I carry it in my backpack).

In one paragraph, tell us about your blending business. The BLANKbottle concept started in 2004, driven by a direct interactive dynamic between winemaker and the adventurous wine drinker. It soon proved itself as a good vehicle in the quest for sustained innovation. As owner-winemaker, I form alliances with vineyards, winemakers and wineries all over South Africa and then make and craft unique blends of premium character. As the name implies, BLANKbottle leaves you in the dark about the cultivar, region and year of vintage, giving you no label to go by, only your taste! I sell straight to the consumer only, mainly via my internet website. It’s here where you’ll find the full story behind your BLANKbottle by searching under its unique BATCH NAME.

From September 2009 I will also have BLANKbottle available in all Woolworths stores country wide.

What is the best bottle of red wine for Under R100 right now? And why? GIANT MISTAKE 2008. Woolworths asked me to form part of their winemaking team in order to develop a wine for the rock band “The Parlotones”. We launched the wine last week and it will be exclusive for Woolworths end September. See it here www.theparlotoneswine.com

And off course BLANKbottle Midnight Call. A Bordeaux blend selling on my website. www.blankbottle.co.za

What’s your most memorable experience on a mountain bike? Like I said; I was forced onto a bike and I therefore cycle for different reasons than others. I cycle in order to clear my mind and to get inspiration. My most memorable experience therefore was a time I cycled to a Helderberg farm and thought that I should start to produce short films on all my wines I sell. It took a few months and that idea, looking back, opened huge doors for me.

Planning 3 new short films, blending the “Moment of Silence”, “DOWN UNDER” and DE KAT wine tasting...

2009-09-14T04:54:00.001-07:00

After a great ADMIN day at the office on Monday we headed off to the Swartland on Tuesday. “The land of promise” as some call it nowadays. This time round it was my first visit to Kalmoesfontein. Adi Badenhorst, ex winemaker of Rustenberg, now resides on his farm Kalmoesfontein. He showed us his old bushvine vineyards, checked out his cellar and tasted all his great wines. It’s a long story, but “the dangerous one” wants me and my other brother Xaver to make a short film of Adi on Kalmoesfontein, featuring him as one of the Rockstars of the wine industry. I will tell you more about the project as we go along. After tasting some great wines and my bakkie’s broken immobiliser, Adi gave us a lift to our next appointment: Mathew Copeland of Vondeling. He prepared goat soup for lunch and we again tasted all his wines. Fantastic stuff... Then back to Adi to try and fix my Toyota. No luck. Late that night a great guy went through a lot of effort to come and fetch us. This is after more new wines from the area as well as Adi’s scallops and pasta.

Early the next morning, my brother Wilhelm and myself were back in Kalmoesfontein. We arranged a technical Toyota man to come and help and then headed off to Wellington for a extremely important meeting. I am busy with one of the first wines for BLANKbottle that would become a yearly brand and release. Due to the success of the first “Moment Of Silence 2007” white blend I decided to repeat this wine year on year. So, Wednesday afternoon we finalised the preliminary blend. We will now take the wines from barrel and put it into tank. From thereon we will prepare it for bottling. I also picked up 2 more samples from the area and worked on the second stage of another blend. This will not be for BLANKbottle, so, for now, let us call this wine “Down under 2009”.. And yes, I love Gewürztraminer!!!

On Thursday we caught up on some admin and we finished the day off partnering with De KAT magazine at Cinema Nouveau in Cavendish. They had the preview for the Mexican movie "Rudo y Cursi" And BLANKbottle and DE KAT hosted the evening. We tasted the Spaniard, The Boss (a new wine), Midnight Call and JOEL.

I love celebrating...anything! I therefore decided that Friday will be a day of celebration! So here I sit, typing the weekly report with some chilled white wine and boerewors, waiting to be served.... I will light the fire now. Greetings.

Designing labels, 4 new wines, The Dangerous One and plenty of wine tastings...

2009-09-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

I am busy putting together a specialized vineyard and wine tour. On Monday I had a meeting with a guy who is passionate about wine, art, history and architecture - the perfect guy to help me with the tours. I then met with the company that will be printing my new labels. I design all my labels on Microsoft Word. We finished the proofs and I now need to send in my wine to SAWIS for preliminary approval so that my labels can go in for printing. I finished the day off with a photo shoot for TREAD magazine. A picture of me, on my bike in the vineyards for the back page of October’s edition. See www.treadmag.co.za

Tuesday morning we worked on 4 new wines. Out to my favourite place: Wellington. This might be the first time I will be realising 4 straight cultivar wines. They will however be in smaller volumes, bottled by hand, unfiltered. We had the final tasting and I am happy. Now we need to plan the bottling. Later the day I had a VERY important meeting with “The dangerous one”. We have a plan, I am excited. All confidential al this stage, I will tell you more closer to the time.

On Wednesday we finally moved into the new office. In the evening I presented yet another wine tasting with Cape Storm for 150 guests. Thursday I presented a private tasting to a great crowd in Edgemead. On Friday morning I left at 4:30 am for Langebaanweg (Military training base for pilots). Epilepsy South Africa asked me to come and speak to some of the guys studying there. I expected about 20 people but when I arrived, there were 800 people. It was a bit of a shocker, but all went very well. It was for Casual day, people with disabilities. On my way back I headed to a friend’s farm up on “Poseleinberg”, then to Riebeeck kasteel and Riebeeck Wes and then to Paarl. Great trip and again some vineyards. Not something I can use, but interesting none the less.

On Saturday I went to a Southern France wine tasting in Cape Town. It was a special occasion. Compared expensive Southern French wines to their South African counterparts. Cultivars, but mainly blends of Shiraz, Carignan, Grenache noir, Cinsaut, Mourvedre, Rousanne, Marzanne, Clairette Blanche, Viognier, Chenin blanc etc..... After that I headed off to Hermanus to present a private tasting for clients and friends. I enjoyed it a lot and I think the wines went off well, judging by the sales after the tasting...

I bottled my first Cape Blend, travelled to the Swartland and visited flawless vineyards in Stellenbosch...

2009-09-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

Monday was a long and rewarding day. After months of planning we bottled BLANKbottle BATAVIA, my first Cape Blend. A Cape blend is a Bordeaux style blend that consists of 20% or more Pinotage. I make use of a mobile bottling plant. The unit is fixed to a truck. They come to the winery and open the sides, steam clean the bottling line and connect the pipe to the tank. The bottles and corks go into the one end and the bottles are filled, closed and packed into wooden crates. Besides some hold-ups with the filtering process, all went very well. I invited a few friends over and we opened a bottle. The wine is fantastic: traditional, but with a different edge.

Tuesday I headed off to the Swartland in search of a possible new wine. I spent the day with one of South Africa’s most innovative wine growers. It’s great to spend time with growers that truly love the people who work for them. The people in charge of the vineyard often struggle to get recognition for their work. And this is where most of the work is done in creating these fascinating wines. Truly complex, spectacular Shiraz. I came back inspired!

Thursday we went for another vineyard tour high up in the valley next to Stellenbosch. When driving up the Blaawklippen road, you follow it right to the end and then head up into the mountain. Great views, innovative vineyards, clear visions with a solid winemaking foundation. I am sure that these guys will be producing fantastic wines in future.

Wednesday and Friday were filled with admin and on the weekend my brother Wilhelm and myself spent time at the new offices. Painting etc...... We want to move into the office by Tuesday the 1st.

The unsung heroes of wine...

2009-09-08T03:34:00.000-07:00

What's the secret to a SPECTACULAR wine?

The answer lies with the ones who never make it to magazine covers or fancy functions - the true champions of the wine industry. You see; each vineyard has potential locked up in information - information like their age, cultivar, clone, rootstock, soil, aspect, wind... (basically their microclimate/ TERROIR). The only person who truly understands this potential is the one who spends his days in the African sun building relationships with the vineyards - the grower a/k/a THE VITICULTURIST.

Three weeks ago I went on THE SEARCH - off the beaten track. I was looking for my next wine. In my travels I tracked down one such grower. We started with the technical information - maps, reports and soil analysis. But most of our time was spent in the vineyards (lots of them!) and we found real gems: Vineyards with potential. Potential that has been locked up in some of them for up to 50 years! And although well cared for from a vineyard perspective, these blocks of grapes have always gone to bulk wine. No one has ever gone through the effort to invest time and money into producing quality wines from them. The wine grower knows the potential, but needs someone to bring it to life and take it to bottle. That someone needs the wine drinker who appreciates good wine. The bottom line: NO MAN IS AN ISLAND. I cannot do this on my own. If you keep on supporting me as you've done up to now, those vineyards can reach, or even exceed their potential! And ultimately you will be able to keep on drinking superb wines.

Spaniard revealed

2009-08-18T06:53:00.001-07:00

As you might know already I released The Spaniard, my latest wine, 2 weeks ago without revealing the cultivar combination of the wine. The intention was for my clients to drink the wine and take a stab at identifying the components - and true to form, I received plenty of interesting (not to mention humorous!) feedback.

To me, drinking this wine is like walking bare feet in mud - it covers your feet and creeps in and through every gap - it literally encompasses your feet. It's not precise. It's round, soft and juicy. It encompasses your pallet from side to side and covers every gap. Warm, velvety and lingering - EXOTIC!

A blend of 42% Mouverdre, 24% Carignan, 24% Grenache Noir and 10% Cinsaut. The Mouvedre and Cinsaut are from Wellington, the Carignan from the Swartland and the Grenache Noir, I'm afraid I'm not allowed to tell.... The Mouvedre is dark in colour with spice and sweet oak after ageing 24 months in American oak barrels. The Carignan and the Grenache Noir gives this wine its length and fills the mid pallet with sweet fruit (24 months in French Oak). The Cinsaut brings the elegance, refines and gives it its finesse.

I decided to award 3 tasters for their dedicated efforts in identifying the cultivars. I am astonished at the level of wine education (and resourcefulness...thank you Google and Wikipedia!). I think I might have to start writing more technical newsletters..... ANYHOW, the winners who each wins a mixed case of BLANKbottle wines are:

1st PRIZE - DESMOND MATZNER : "Mourvedre 42% - Grenache 24% - Carignan 24% - Tempranillo 10%........some Syrah ?????"

2nd PRIZE - MICHAEL DAY: "Tempranillo 42%, Grenache (Garnacha) 24%, Carignan (Mazuelo) 24%, Monastrell (Mourvedre) 10%"

3rd PRIZE - Joe and Jenny Grobbelaar: Tempranillo (Klein Karoo Calitzdorp), Mouvedre and Grenache (Voor Paardeberg), Carignan (Wellington) 2007.

And if you're still unsure if you should order a case or two for your cellar (or cupboard), see below for more feedback:

"Very interesting wine."
"Ek het 12 bottels van Spaniard bestel. 6 vir my en 6 vir 'n vriend. Nadat ek die 1ste bottel gedrink het het ek besluit om al 12 self te hou en nog 12 te bestel! (Ek wag net vir pay-day dan gaan ek die volgende 12 bestel!"
"Awesome stuff dude!"
"Ons is nou addicted!!"
"Demmit die bottel is leeg."
"The Spaniard was divine!!!"
"Rasperry dusty notes - plums and Prunes - Like a Southern Rhone"
"In a word it is exotic. In two words it is both exotic and elegant. In three it is exotic, elegant and smooth."
"Wil net se die wyn is heerlik."
"Keep up the high standard."
"For what it's worth, my wife and I both enjoyed The Spaniard tremendously - an excellent blend - our congratulations go to you for getting this right!"

So go on buy it HERE! OR reply to this e-mail with your order.

WEEK ENDING: 8 August 2009. A week of ADMIN, quality control for the big blend and my 5 new wines off to the lab...

2009-08-13T00:58:00.000-07:00

Most of my week last week was taken up by ADMIN - a lot of payments had to be done after my 3 bottling sessions the month before.

The Big Blend for the Famous Ones went through the Quality Control panel last week. A lot of tasting sessions... Everyone was extremely satisfied. Unfortunately I cannot tell you more about the wine right now. We will release it in September and I will reveal more about it closer to the time. A VERY EXCITING wine!

I am in the planning phase for 5 new wines for BLANKbottle. I made up trail blends from barrel on Thursday and took the wines in for microbiological analysis. The guy in charge is South Africa’s best and most experienced Oenologist (wine guy).

On Friday I spent most of my day at the Cape Grace with “The dangerous one”..... You will get to know him well as we go along.

NEXT week Wednesday I will reveal the blending components for “The Spaniard”....... Enjoy the weekend.

Warm regards

Pieter

The BIG BLEND, released The Spaniard and THE SEARCH.

2009-07-31T02:58:00.000-07:00

This week started off with the big blend. It is a very special wine we are working on. The finer intricacies are confidential, but I will tell you more when I can. The bottom line, we were searching for the edge (as I call it) to this wine. We found it a few weeks ago and this week we worked on integrating the edge with the rest of the wine. Extremely difficult and complex. It’s these small alterations that turns a average wine into something unique.

As you know I released the Spaniard on Tuesday where you need to guess the cultivar before 11 August. The wine is truly spectacular! Trust me....

I also went on THE SEARCH. Off the beaten track. Winemaking starts with the wine grower. This is the guy who spends his days in the African sun building relationships with vineyards. They are the true champions of the wine industry. They don’t appear on fancy brochures or magazines, but it is with them that the truth lies. They have relationships with many vineyards. Each vineyard has potential and the potential is locked up in information. Information like the cultivar, clone, a rootstock, soil, aspect, wind.... – microclimate - TERROIR. And the only person that truly understands this potential is the grower, the guy who spends most time with the vineyard. I therefore tracked down one such grower and we went on THE SEARCH. We started with the technical detail and information - maps, reports and soil analysis. We ended in between vineyards..... We found real gems. Vineyards with potential......

My new wine: Guess the Cultivars

2009-07-31T00:59:00.000-07:00

I'm releasing my new wine: "The Spaniard". This wine intrigues me. It's expensive to make, not attempted by just anyone and consists of 4 different cultivars (all specialized) from 3 different areas. And the best is: I've not had ANYONE (especially the wine connoisseurs) remotely close to guessing the correct cultivars it consists of after tasting it!

This, to me, is the ultimate wine - combining ancient wine history with a new world twist. All the cultivars in this blend hail from ancient Spain (some of them date back to 500BC). Some say that they were first found growing in Southern France. But then, Northern Spain and Southern France are just a border post away from each other. The cultivar combination is based on French tradition but groundbreaking for South Africa.

So this wine is a blend of 42% THIS, 24% THAT, 24% THE-OTHERONE and 10% YETANOTHERONE. And YES, again I think it could be the best wine BLANKbottle has had so far, but then again, I always say that...

On a more serious note: This is again a MYSTERY WINE. I normally publish the full story of where my wines originate from on my website at the time of its release. This time round I've decided not to do this. The identity of "The Spaniard" will only be revealed and published on the 11th of August 2009. Until then I invite you to buy the wine, try it and guess the Cultivars, Origin and Vintage. I will then award (a mixed case of wine) to the 3 best answers - Not ONLY the person with the closest answer but the persons with the most interesting guesses!

So there you go, the challenge is on, and remember: if you do not like it, simply return it and make use of my 100% money back guarantee.

Please forward this to your wine Connoisseur friends. It's open to anyone and they'll most likely thank you for it!

And the price = R59 a bottle.

HOW TO BUY: E-mail me your order and pay via internet transfer/cheque/cash/bank deposit etc..... OR go to my website, order and pay online with your credit card.

Follow BLANKbottle

2009-07-23T00:54:00.000-07:00

My apologies for being a bit quiet the last month, but BLANKbottle has officially moved into the Autobahn (fast lane!). You could say I'm working hard, but what I do cannot be called work!

I was asked to be involved in the blending of a wine for the Parlotones (most successful South African rock band) for which we also produced a movie. I travelled around quite a bit, creating 3 new wines and associated movies (The Boss, Alexa and The Spaniard) and I even ventured out as far as Jeffrey's Bay for one of the movies. Last weekend I was interviewed for an episode of an MNET production at the beach in "Kogelbaai" (mostly a chance for me to catch a wave or two!). Next week I will be releasing my new wine, "The Spaniard". I'm also working on new blends and will finish the month off with an exciting vineyard tour searching for some of South Africa's best grapes in exotic and undiscovered locations...

The bottom line: Too many things to cover in a once-a-month newsletter. Which brings me to the reason for this e-mail: I was wondering if there would be interest in following the daily developments of BLANKbottle on Twitter? It's a simple website layout, displaying short messages about what I'm currently doing. In real-time I will be posting these short messages (the length of an SMS) from my cellphone straight to the website. Click here to view it. If you want to follow me, click on the Join Today button (Top right hand side of the screen) and sign up, it's FREE.

I also linked it to my website, so by logging onto my website, you will be able to follow me.

Until next week then, when I'll be releasing : THE SPANIARD!

Making a new Short film in Jeffreys Bay

2009-07-06T04:16:00.000-07:00

My brother (Xaver Walser) is the BLANKbottle short film producer. We made a new film in Jeffreys bay. This will be for one of my new wines: BLANKbottle ALEXA Chenin / Viognier 2009.

We timed the trip well and scored some epic waves. Some pics below:

a BLANKbottle in Belgium

2009-06-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Owning BLANKbottle is like having many children. You NEVER know where a bottle might end up one day. Like recently, when a glass of "BLANKbottle Midnight Call Bordeaux blend 2007" ended up in the hands of the sommelier (wine guru) of one of Belgium's top restaurants...

A Belgian lady and Stellenbosch guest house owner called me up last week and told me the story. End of last year she bought some of the pre-release Midnight Call for her private wine enjoyment. One of her guests got their hands on a bottle and took it with to Belgium. He then not only had the guts (I admire people like that) to take BLANKbottle to one of Belgium's top restaurants, THE CONVENT, but even asked the sommelier to taste and guess where it's from. His conclusion: a French wine from some famous château in Bordeaux (unfortunately my source could not remember the château's name).

Bottom line: The Midnight Call 2007 reminded that Belgian sommelier of the wines of Bordeaux, France - definitely a wine's biggest compliment! I bet he's never heard of "Château de BLANKbottle"........

My new wine - MIDNIGHT CALL 2007

2009-05-06T03:10:00.000-07:00

I'm extremely excited to release my NEW WINE. You know the feeling when things just unexpectedly work out better than you ever could've imagined - well, that is the case with this wine. I personally think it's not only the best wine I've released so far, it's also the most unique (and will be very hard to repeat - ever). I know, I almost always say this but take my word for it - it's spectacular.

It's called The MIDNIGHT CALL 2007. To me, the name is significant in more ways than one. My wife Aneen gave birth to our second child 2 weeks ago, a beautiful baby girl Alexa. If it were only a matter of a Midnight call it would have been all right - but it is every 3 hours! HECTIC!

Getting back to the wine - I was extremely blessed (don't believe in luck!) to work with great people on this blend of 5 varietals. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. The correct wine term for this style of wine is: a Bordeaux blend. Bordeaux is a area in France situated around the city of Bordeaux. Traditionally all the wines from that region are made up of a blend of some or all of the above cultivars. Due to the complexity of the blend, this is a very difficult wine to produce. And in this case, the whole is indeed much greater than the sum of the parts.

In order to add some fun my brother and I again produced a short film about this wine. I tried to make it educational, fresh, funky and different. Thanks to my brother's talent , I think we've done just that (or let me know what you think!). Go on, it's great fun!!!

ON AN EMOTIONAL LEVEL

2009-04-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

I'm not essentially an analytical person (rather a true right brain child!) and therefore do not fit into the typical profile of a wine ...... Let me explain: Since I started out in the wine industry, I've felt the pressure to conform to the analytical way of tasting wine: look at the colour, smell and taste and award points to every category. As a result of this, I lost almost all interest in wine shows and tasting panels, and, in fact, started avoiding them altogether (not something I'm proud to admit being a winemaker by trade!) That is, until December last year.

I had the privilege of spending two afternoons with not only an internationally respected truly spectacular wine-grower, but also one who thinks totally out of the (wine tasting) box. This guy is a little bit weird, and I mean it as the biggest compliment ever. My great impressions may have something to do with the fact that he confirmed a lot of what's been in my heart all along (making me seem less weird) - one of them being the more emotional approach to enjoying wine.

When I assess wine I'll normally pour a glass and spend time with it. If you dress a good-looking person in rags no one will ever spare them a second glance - and I feel the same about wine. Meaning: The clothes maketh not the man. I therefore ignore the label, identify my first impressions, and then start digging deeper. Have you ever met a person who's enjoyed all privileges in life, but the moment you start a conversation you realize there's just no depth? I try to establish whether someone made the effort to identify vineyards with true potential years ahead of their peak time and invested their time and money to nurture, shape and care for it in order to make sure it will be capable of produceing wine with true character - now there's the wine I like!

Next, did the winemaker take the time & loving care to build character and dimension into the wine? And did the winemaker combine other great wines in the right volumes as complementary blending partners to produce something extraordinary? I find the wine starts to speak back to you in time. It tells you where it wants you to drink it - in the sun at a picnic or at the fireplace in winter! It tells which food will compliment its flavour profile. And the more time you're willing to spend listening, the more you will hear. Just like your friendships, you'll get to know wine on an intuitive level - and when you meet a similar style of wine in future you will instinctively recognise it by its character. Combine this with a bit of practical knowledge and wines might in the future start baring all to you, telling you it's cultivar, vintage and ultimately even where it is from?

I do not rate my friends on a point system. Why would I do this to wine? Strive to develop your intuition and instinct, then learn to trust it...

Smoke Taint

2009-03-13T00:07:00.000-07:00

Besides the quite obvious fact that vineyards may burn to the ground there's another problem few people are aware of: "Smoke taint"... Research in 2007 showed that various smoke compounds (there are over 3000) appears to enter the leaves of vineyards and are then translocated to the grapes. There are 2 chemical components that come from bushfires which appears to be good indicators when it comes to smoke taint: guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol. In wine, guaiacol gives smoky, phenolic, aromatic, burnt, and burnt bacon aromas and 4-methylguaiacol has smoky, leather and spicy aromas.

Research has shown that a SINGLE, heavy exposure of smoke to grapevines during the ripening phase is sufficient to produce smoke taint. Currently, several vineyards in South Africa have been exposed to bushfire smoke. You are however able to test the grapes/must/wine for guaiacol and 4-methylguaiacol.

The "burning" question remains whether this smoky character is necessarily a negative thing, who knows?

Have a great weekend!

(The sensory threshold (that is, the level under which the compounds are unlikely to be smelt) in sparkling juice base is approximated at 6 μg/L. For finished wine, the sensory threshold largely depends on the wine's structure; winemakers have observed smoke taint levels, in lighter red wine styles, of 12-15 micrograms per litre (μg/L). )

My new wine - You decided the price

2009-02-19T06:51:00.001-08:00

This is the official release of the Eye of the Storm Shiraz/Zinfandel/Viognier 2007! I sent out 47 cases of wine to the first clients to respond to my e-mail on the 20^th of Jan 2009. They tasted the wine and paid me what they decided it was worth to them. The objectives of this exercise were threefold:

What is the Market related retail value of this wine?
What are you personally ABLE to pay for this wine? This is influenced by your financial position, your philosophies on wine buying, the current economical climate (even the petrol price..) etc.
And ultimately: What is the emotional value I'm adding to your life by producing this wine? This is all about enjoying the wine with friends, food pairings and giving you a story to tell. (Indeed life is all about your stories!)

I published all their comments and suggestions on the internet. And without fail: what an interesting mix of opinions and ideas! Click here to read what they had to say. The price suggestion averaged at R45 a bottle. The highest price I got was a Sommelier that said he would pay R120 per bottle. Most important of all is that my clients are able to pay R45 a bottle even though the value it add to their life is so much more. My price is therefore R45 a bottle. So, there you go! I didn't decide the price, YOU did!

To order you can reply to this e-mail with your order or click here and buy online with your credit card. I also have in stock the 54.38 Merlot/Cabernet 2007 for R35 a bottle, the white JOEL Chenin blanc/Viognier 2007 blend for R35 a bottle as well as the MIRAVEL Sauvignon blend 2007 for R45 a bottle .

Hope you have a fantastic (wind-free for you Capetonians) weekend.

PS: Click on the links below to see what people had to say:

James - got excellent reviews from everyone. (2009-02-10)

Malan - asof jou mond en "tastebuds" juig (2009-02-09)

John - Very interesting and confusing blind tasting (2009-02-05)

George - R50.00 per bottle from a direct marketer would be fair & reasonable (2009-02-05)

Smuts - They all felt that there is more to it than the Shiraz' that they are used to (2009-02-05)

Mike - Id like to pay R600 for the case. (2009-02-05)

John - the bottle was finished in NO TIME (2009-02-05)

Riana - ons het n paar votes gehad vir selfs R80 tot R90! (2009-02-04)

Colin - Well I think I would break my wine buying rules for this one (2009-02-04)

Derek - serious (...ly good), but soft tannins and smooth finish." (2009-02-04)

Bertie - dankie vir al die genot wat jou vorige produkte ook vir my verskaf het (2009-02-04)

Johan - nie vergesog om R50 per bottel te vra nie (2009-02-04)

James - His answer - R120.00/bottle (2009-02-04)

Karen - store it for 6 months and drink during winter accompanied by some oxtail or lasagne. (2009-02-04)

Ralph - Well done and thank you (2009-02-04)

Malcolm - we agreed on R55/bottle. (2009-02-04)

John - I personally feel the Shiraz was a little masked by the other two cultivars (2009-02-04)

Jackie - this is the best by far ! (2009-02-04)

Mark - Lots of earthy tones (2009-02-04)

Chris - In a year or 2 it will be a definate medal winner and much more pricy (2009-02-04)

Alan - What can I say, very nice! (2009-02-04)

Kayne - I think scaling Everest would be easy by comparison (2009-02-04)

Charles Rossiter - we can offer primary assessments (2009-02-04)

Rudi - Comparing to other wines, Delheim (R39.99) & Simonsig (R55) (2009-02-04)

Emma - We did a blind tasting and I have to say Eye of the Storm came on top (2009-02-04)

Kerry - I kept expecting to find a big spoonful of thick homemade berry jam (2009-02-04)

André Roux - Eye of the Storm moet so 'n knertsie hoër as die Durbanville Hills geprys word (2009-02-04)

James - I had another taker at R80.00 per bottle. (2009-02-04)

Deon Henning - tref die palet aanvanklik as 'n baie ernstige wyn (2009-02-04)

Tony - still unsure of this wine.... (2009-02-02)

Leon - general consensus was very agreeable. (2009-02-01)

My new wine: You decide the price, AGAIN!

2009-01-18T23:12:00.000-08:00

BLANKbottle is ready for 2009 - hope yours is as fulfilling as I expect ours to be. Although you might've seen the movie about my new wine, the "EYE OF THE STORM" (a blend between Shiraz 90%, Zinfandel 8% and Viognier 2%), you might've noticed that I have not released it as yet. The reason being: I need the help of all you Shiraz lovers with its pricing!

If you see yourself as somewhat of a Shiraz expert (or even just a fan), I'd appreciate your opinion of and pricing suggestion for the wine. As with the "Moment of Silence"-batch last year Feb (click here to read more ), I will once again be assigning a case of wine to 40 clients who e-mail me with their delivery details (please see below for conditions and procedure). You then have 1 week from delivery to assess the wine, decide what you think the wine is worth to you and pay me exactly that. Please note that this is not free wine, it's merely shopping with a difference!

Based on your feedback, I will determine the price I will sell the rest for.

Hope you're up for the challenge!

*PROCEDURE & CONDITIONS:
1. Only clients who've bought from BLANKbottle in the past, qualify to take part.
2. Email/phone me with your delivery details and telephone number before 21 Jan 09
3. I will then select 20 clients and send each one a case of wine on consignment.
4. Enjoy the wine and decide what you think it's worth.
5. Pay me what you've decided it's worth.
SIMPLE!

2008 Coming to a END

2008-12-15T01:51:00.000-08:00

"It's strange that some of the best ideas in life emerge after some liquid lubrication!" Richard Branson 2008

I decided to take a short break; BLANKbottle will therefore be closed from 20 December 2008 - 1 January 2009. So, if you still need some liquid lubrication before then, please send me a mail or buy on my website. If you buy today, I will still be able to deliver before the end of the week.

Business of the year - Marketing and Branding

2008-12-05T07:11:00.001-08:00

Congratulations! BLANKbottle won the Helderberg Chamber of Commerce ANNUAL Business Award in the category Marketing and Branding at a fancy black-tie event held at ErinvaleHotel in Somerset West last week.

The 3 finalists were:Benbel (a very successful hardware franchise with 87 employees), ROLA Motors (an extremely successful car dealership and family business that employs more than 400 people) andUS (you and I!)

It would give me immensepleasure to keep on producinginteresting and excellentwines year in and year out and I have plenty of exciting things planned for the future, BUT without people drinking the wine it is impossible to pursue my dream.

SO, if you are reading this, I would like to personally thank you for making it possible!

Here are some of the e-mails I received from my clients after the awards:

“Reverse CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! ……..well done Pieter”.

“Well done. Have a good Festive Season. Best Wishes”

“Baie Geluk Spokie!”

“Die man wat goeie werk lewer kan voor konings staan.”

“Congrats on the award…cheers. You make the wines…we will drink them…keep it coming.”

“VEELS GELUK!!, Anton”

“Baie baie baie geluk, dude. Gehoor van jou awesome award! Dankie tog die BBC het jou destyds lat gaan... ;) Mooigaan, lievnis vir aneen.”

“Thank you for your email and CONGRATULATIONS!!! I am absolutely delighted!”

“Congratulations on a fine achievement. We are proud to be associated with you and Blankbottle.”

“Congratulations to you Pieter!!!”

“hi pieter - BAIE GELUK!!! sommer lekker om te sien en saam in die vreugde te deel!! geniet dit!”

“Congratulations Pieter and may you go from strenghth to strenghth...”

“Well done-really great! What can you recommend to me as my preference is a heavily wooded smooth Chardonnay?”

“Congratulations. You deserve this. As a business partner I’d like to order the following....”

“Super congratulations to you!”

“Congratulations I think the next time I am in Cape Town we need to get together to discuss marketing.”

“Well done!!!”

“BAIE Geluk Pieter”

“Dit is Fantasties!!”

“Congratulations! Well done.”

“First-off CONGRATULATIONS on the award!”

“Congratulations Pieter, May I ask if you have a picture of the event? I’d like to put your write up with an introduction paragraph, into our electronic newsletter? Really well done.”

“Cograts - as long as you keep enjoying what you are doing it will be successful”.

“Hey geluk Spook!!!”

“Congratulations, it is well deserved!”

“Heartiest congratulations on this well deserved award. We continue to drink and enjoy your wines and look forward to continuing to do so in the new year. Well done and kind regards,”

“Well done Pieter- you deserve it!!!”

“Congratulations Pieter you certainly deserve it. You keep on impressing with regard to innovation in both product and marketing.”

“WELL DONE......AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!”

“Congratulations Pieter! That’s fantastic news – you deserve it. Your passion for what you do is infectious and I’m sure that had a lot to do with you winning. Well done.”

“I hope you have a great 2009!”

“First of all, congratulations to you!! What a great achievement this is and what a blessing, too. I am excited for you and trust the Lord that he will keep on blessing your business and your lovely family. (Regards to Aneen J)

As for myself, I also am blessed as I have the privilege of knowing about your wines and having the funds to buy them! Now isn’t that great J …. I’d like to order two cases.”

“Veels Geluk! Jy is ‘n Goeie rolmodel vir ander besighede. Geniet die SOMER”

“Veels geluk met die groot prestasie! Vele gelukkige, suksesvolle en opwindende wynmaaktye jou toegewens.”

“Congratulations on your Annual Business Award achievement! May BLANKbottle go from strength to strength. It is clear that enormous enthusiasm and hard work is still recognised and rewarded!”

“BAIE GELUK - JY VERDIEN DIT!”

Where's JOEL really from

2008-11-27T01:16:00.000-08:00

In October 2007 a very good friend, Jan de Villiers, invited me for a wine tasting the following Thursday afternoon – secret venue. Although I was quite busy at the time, I just had a feeling that I shouldn’t miss it (we all have to make our sacrifices..!) I met him at his beautiful office on a farm outside Stellenbosch and we drove all the way to Wellington. When we arrived at the farm, I was completely blown away by one of the most spectacular setting I had ever come across. The owner’s son took us on a tour of the farm. I’m sworn to confidentiality but what I can tell you is that I met some quality people with an intense attention to detail. They showed me their winery, we tasted very interesting wines and weird cultivars and the family even invited me and Jan for lunch!

Ever since then we have been working together. I like working in all the wine producing areas and do not want to single out one, but when it comes to Chenin and Viognier, you would seriously want to consider Wellington. To cut a long story short, since my introduction to Wellington I felt at home and loved the area, its grapes and its people. I’ve always somehow felt that I was directed there and on the right place for the moment. As time went on, and the wine kept on impressing me, I realized that the area could definitely play a massive role in my business for years to come.

I’ve always liked my middle name – Hauptfleisch - my mom’s maiden name. (As opposed to my wife, who keeps making jokes about it!) Recently, my mom started studying our family background and tree in order to find out where exactly the HAUPTFLEISCH family is from. Last week she told me that the third generation Hauptfleisch on our side of the family (Daniel Benjamin Hauptfleisch 1781 – 1824), in South Africa, owned a farm in Wellington. She gave me the name. After doing some investigation myself, I found out that the guys I work with in Wellington actually bought the farm in 1981. And, you won’t believe it: 2 thirds of the Chenin blanc used in the JOEL, consists of wine made from grapes from that specific farm. I mean, what are the odds?? 2 months after I bottled my new wine I find out that 50% of the wine was made with grapes from the farm where my family farmed 7 generations ago!

Isn’t this an amazing discovery, and YES, confirmation that I am in the right place at the right time.

My new white blend released!

2008-11-20T02:25:00.000-08:00

Instead of winding down towards the end of the year, things here at BLANKbottle have just been gathering speed. It's been a super blessed year for me, but I'll send more specifics in my usual December accolades e-mail! For now, it's time to release my new summer wine! And yes, after many requests, I am glad to present to you a white blend: The JOEL 71% Chenin blanc and 29% Viognier 2008 (again with its own wine tasting movie). You will notice in this movie that I do not take you to the vineyard as in previous movies. We had 14 days in which to produce 19 movies (with a quite inexperienced actor I might add), so for this one, being the last of the lot, the beach had to do!

This wine will challenge your perceptions about white wine produced from relatively hotter regions. With all the grapes coming from Wellington, the end product is anything but the high alcohol tropical fruit bomb you would expect - a truly spectacular fresh complex white.

I decided to release the wine for R35 a bottle. I however think that the wine is worth at least R65 a bottle. Click here to buy it on my website. If you would like me to personally recommend something and attend to your order, please reply to this e-mail.

BLANKbottle: The making of a Red Wine 3

2008-11-13T02:22:00.000-08:00

Please see my newest episode and newsletter on the making of red wine in California (some of you might remember some of the details from a newsletter of about 2 years ago - see it as a refresher!).

BLANKbottle Newsletter: Since November 2004

With the Sauvignon blanc and Chardonnay winemaking process well on its way, the first Pinot Noir grapes started coming in- my cue to move over to the red wine cellar. The Pinot Noir vineyard was a new block at that time, situated high up on the cooler slopes on the western side of the Valley - perfect terroir for the production of Pinot Noir!

But instead of producing award-winning quality wine from that block, the owners were shocked to discover that the previous (and first) year's vintage was absolutely HORRIFIC. It had had enough colour and a good tannin structure, but it had an overwhelming one-dimensional synthetic and unfavourable EUCALYPTUS flavour. They suspected that it had to do with the fact that the block was surrounded by lanes of Eucalyptus trees (most of it situated on the neighbouring farm), on 3 sides of the vineyard but had to do an experiment to prove their suspicions. As a precaution, our vineyard management team decided to remove the 2 lanes situated on our property. As they could not convince the neighbour to do the same, it left us with one lane of trees lining the vineyard on one side.

As an experiment, we set off on foot and tied a ribbon all along the line where we could find Eucalyptus leaves on the ground. Our goal was to separate the vines where the leaves were lying from the rest, in other words, splitting the block in 2 sections.

We then harvested the grapes in 2 separate lots and fermented the grapes in 2 separate tanks, next to each other. Even in the early stages of fermentation the tanks differed TREMENDOUSLY in flavour. The result: Not a hint of Eucalyptus was found in the second batch, whereas the first batch absolutely reeked of it!

My Birthday

2008-10-31T01:12:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday (I'm 33 if you'd like to know!) , and I usually like to use the day to reflect back on what I've spent my time on in the past year.

I've always thought to myself: If I have an unlimited budget, what would I do for a living? And the answers have always remained the same: I would like to start my own wine brand, meet as many people as possible and build a quality relationship with each of them.

So I count myself blessed: I'm living my dream. And why the brand BLANKbottle? It's like most things in life. When you meet someone for the first time or (maybe especially) read about them in a newspaper, you can't see where he lives, the car he drives or the work he does or even begin to think you know the person he is . You have to meet the person, sit down and, most importantly, spend time with him.

I wanted to create a brand that can't be judged by looking at the label, but purely on taste. So take your BLANKbottle, go and sit down, open it and pour yourself a glass. Log onto www.blankbottle.co.za and join me for a live wine tasting movie.

And then only will you know what BLANKbottle's all about: THE TASTE!

Sauvignon blanc, at long last

2008-10-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

In the last few months I've identified a limited amount of boutique wines that I feel complement and add dimension to the BLANKbottle range. Up to now, I've never had a Sauvignon blanc under the BLANKbottle label. MIRAVEL Wines, situated near Somerset West, produce some of the best quality Sauvignon blanc grapes in the country. I subsequently decided to bring them on as a morepermanent partner or, as I prefer to say, a "Friend of BLANKbottle". They will be my Sauvignon blanc specialist.

MIRAVEL's first Sauvignon Blanc was bottled in 2005. I've monitored their wine quality and ageingpotential of their wines closely over the past three years. Last year I sold some of their wines on my website and for the past 4 months I've been using their wines in the wine tastings I've been presenting. I received brilliant feedback as well as numerous e-mails from clients raving about MIRAVEL's quality. After tasting the 2008 MIRAVEL Sauvignon blanc (not labelled yet) I feel confident that MIRAVEL could soon become one of the best Sauvignon blanc producers in the country.

The MIRAVEL Sauvignon blanc 2006 and 2007 - same vineyard, different year, is only available at 5retail outlets in the whole of SA (ensuring its exclusivity). Maarten (the owner) likes to make use of a different winemaker, renowned for their Sauvignon blanc's, each year. Bartho Eksteen, (now from Hermanus Pietersfontein in Hermanus) made the 2006 vintage and the 2007 vintage was made by Allée Bleue's winemaker Gerda Willers.

NEW: You can now also view a movie about MIRAVEL on my website, YouTube , BLANKbottle's facebook Group or on my Blog. I will tell you the story of "Making Sauvignon blanc in a single garage", show you the garage where we made the wine and take you to the vineyard. We will meet Maarten and taste the 2007 and the 2008 Sauvignon blanc.

The spectacular 2008 MIRAVEL Sauvignon blanc is not labelled yet and I will therefore only sell the 2006 (only 20 cases left = R37 a bottle) and the 2007 (R45 a bottle) for now. Order and pay online OR reply to this e-mail with your order. I am almost sold out on the Moment of Silence Chenin/Char/Viognier 2007 and the Alliance Cab/Merlot 2006. My new wine, the BLANKbottle 54.38 Merlot/Cabernet 2007 is also now available.

San Francisco 1999

2008-10-08T05:44:00.000-07:00

If you'd like to continue reading about how I made red wine in California, please see my second newsletter on that subject below! This is still just an introduction - in the next newsletter we'll get down to business and take a look at the different technical aspects to the making of red wine.

BLANKbottle Newsletter: Since November 2004

San Francisco 1999: After arriving at the airport, I made my way up the coast towards Santa Rosa, where we had a two-day briefing session by the agency who placed us in California. We stayed in the Flamingo Hotel for the weekend (quite upmarket in comparison to the rest of our stay...). That Monday morning Bruce Cakebread, winemaker of Cakebread Cellars, came to pick us up. It was myself, Pablo and Paz from Chilli, Carl from Austria and Chris from New Zealand.

As we drove through the Napa Valley, I realized how similar the terrior is to what we have here in Stellenbosch. The total size of the county is 2,042 km²; of which 1,952 km² are land and 89 km² (4.38%) are water. Napa is warmer in the summer than Sonoma County to the west or Santa Barbara County, a wine-producing county in southern California. Thus, the Napa wineries favor varietals such as Cabernet Sauvignon, while Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are more the specialty of Sonoma and Santa Barbara wineries. We arrived on the farm and booked into what was called "the yellow house", our new home for a few months. We started with our training session right away, i.e. security/safety/forklift licence etc. Like all Americans, they place a lot of emphasis on safety. Whilst safety was their main concern, mine was to ensure that I work as many hours as possible. (Spending quality time in transit at the remaining 6 airports on my 7-stop around-the-world ticket, was not my ideal way of travelling the world)

There were two shifts to choose from: night or day. For night shift, three guys were needed: 2 permanent Americans and one volunteer (one of us). All wine grapes and cultivars ripen at different stages during the harvesting season. When the first grapes (Sauvignon blanc) comes into the white wine cellar, the "night shift" works together with the "day shift", but when the Chardonnay (white) grapes starts ripening, the first Pinot Noir (red) grapes from Sonoma will also be ready. At that point the night shift moves over to the red wine cellar and takes charge of the winery (newly built just before we arrived). The Pinot Noir will be followed by the Merlot and the latest to ripen is the Cabernet's.

So, to make sure I had the best deal around, I did what any traveller would've done: I asked the locals. When they told me that night shift was the only one with unlimited working hours, I made my choice ($$$$$). Subsequently, when the winemaker asked for a night shift volunteer, I was the only one to humbly raise my hand. (I didn't share the unlimited working-hour knowledge with my co-workers.)

Next time we will be looking at the red wine varietals, the making of the wines and how little sleep one can really survive on, in more detail.

My new wine: BLANKbottle 54.38

2008-10-02T01:45:00.000-07:00

The Coastal Region BLANKbottle 54.38 Merlot / Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 has jumped the queue, and is now available at R35 a bottle! And as a bonus, you'll have the opportunity to watch me have a go at novice acting...and give your comments. This is the first BLANKbottle wine you'll be able to enjoy, with its own live wine tasting video on my website, blog or YouTube!

VISA and BLANKbottle in partnership

2008-09-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

As you know and I keep saying, my passions are wine and people. That's why I enjoy our relationship so much. And this time, thanks to our relationship and all of you, VISA has asked BLANKbottle to partner with their PLATINUM and INFINITE clients and do exactly that: build relationship. So congratulations to all of you, you've just landed BLANKbottle exposure to 500 000 more people!

So what now? Instead of going into a flatspin, I'm following the advice of a friend: Don't plan, PREPARE! So I'm preparing....big time.

Up to now, I've been telling you my stories in newsletters and winetastings, but I've decided to take our chats to the next level. For the next 19 wines I'm releasing, you'll be able to open the bottle, pour yourself a glass, log onto http://www.blankbottle.co.za/ and view a movie where I taste the wine with you, show you the vineyards where the wine comes from, and give you insight into the making of the wine. I'll get into the making of these movies at a later stage, but if you'd like to have a sneak movie preview of my new wine being released mid September, see below.

How to make red wine 1.

2008-07-31T01:49:00.000-07:00

Today we'll be looking at the introduction of my new series on how to make red wine. Please join me on my journey to the other side of the world - Napa Valley California - where I spent 4 months making red wine after my adventures in the Desert.

In the next 2 months you'll need to hold onto your socks because BLANKbottle is going through some serious upgrades. Next week I will invite you to have a look at my new website. I am bottling 4 new wines and have a bucket full of surprises on top of that to come. For now, we are onto the last pallet of the Alliance Cab/Shiraz 2006 and the Moment of Silence 2007, so if you're a fan, go to the website and order or send me an e-mail.

BLANKbottle Newsletter: Since November 2004

To put everything into perspective: Whilst I had a lot of fun frolicking around in the shallow waters of Cap Clasique in the basement of the winery in the dessert, I still missed surfing and decided to put my priorities in place as any man should. I decided to find a job closer to the beach. I logged onto the internet and searched for a world map. That's when my eye caught California and I thought: Yes! Travelling, surfing, wine experience and dollars - it made perfect sense.

In the months to follow, I secured a position as cellarhand at Cakebread Cellars in the Napa Valley through a placement agency and booked a ticket to fly from Cape Town to San Francisco. Well, actually, not exactly Cape Town - San Francisco! It read: CPT - Brussels - San Fran - Los Angeles - Seattle - Orlando - New York - Brussels - Cape Town! Now I'm still not sure if it was faith or stupidity but my thought pattern went as follows: I have to spend all my savings in order to get to the USA, but if I work for 4 months, I might be able to afford a nice holiday which would include surfing all the breaks between San Francisco and San Diego, doing a quick ski trip to Whistler, spending one week in Disneyworld and checking out the scene in New York.

So, with just a few dollars in my pocket and an eagerness to work, I arrived in San Francisco in June 1999. I'd like to tell you about how I ended up doing nightshift and being in charge of the red wine cellar, but more about that next month. For now, you can have a look at the winery - www.cakebread.com.

Till then.
Pieter

My first informal wine tasting as a student in Stellenbosch 1995

2008-07-09T01:39:00.000-07:00

As I was growing up, I enjoyed the odd glass of wine with dinner under the watchful eye of my parents, but June 1994 marked my own personal milestone: buying my first bottle of wine (to certainly not enjoy under the watchful eye of my parents)! It cost me a grand total of R3.50 for a Tassenberg dry red at the Western Province Liquor traders in Stellenbosch. I had just arrived at Elsenburg Agricultural College to study Agricultural research. The course included subjects like winemaking and Viticulture and I had subsequently felt the urgent need to broaden my practical experience in the field...
I clearly remember my first ever "formal" wine tasting that night: sitting in the dark next to the fire with friends sipping from the bottle. What makes this experience so significant to me is that for the first time in my life, I could taste various flavours in the wine. Of course at that stage I couldn't identify what I was tasting, but I could certainly distinguish them as well as I can now, 13 years later.
I now understand that most of us taste exactly the same components when it comes to wine, even though some of us might label it as black berries and others as farm yard character!
Bottom line: at the end of the day, 90% of us smell and taste the same stuff, just in different concentrations. When we experience a new taste (e.g.strawberry) we store the memory of that particular taste in our brain. As time goes by we create a database of memory. When we then taste that same flavour component again, this time round as part of a whole flavour profile in a wine, it's easily identifiable by matching it to the tastes in our memory library. (My wife insists that no such memory library exists in her brain!)
It's been a few years since I've had a bottle of Tassenberg, but earlier today, equipped with a slightly more extensive memory library to access.., I went out and bought myself one! I turned the screw cap and remembered that the proper way to indicate my commitment to finish what I've started, was to throw it on the floor and step on it!
My tasting notes: The wine is light in colour. On the nose I get a fruit salad of ripe, but not over ripe berries. An overwhelming raspberry nose with hints of strawberry, quite a bit of cherry and slight white pepper. On the palate I get heaps of raspberry with not much structure in terms of acid to support it. The wine has a very soft and almost not present tannin structure with a short mouth feel.
To be honest, it still tasted exactly the way I remembered it...perfect!

Great Wines, Great people!!!!!

2008-06-21T04:53:00.001-07:00

I try to present as many wine tasting events as possible. The client provides the venue as well as the crowd. I supply the wine. See some photos on recent tastings.

Anriette organised a fascinating wine tasting evening at Pachas restaurant in the heart of Pretoria

At Ian and Tina Trail’s house I met influential people, enjoyed excellent Goulash, wine and the best Chocolate mouse I’ve tasted in South Africa.

My Story

2008-06-21T03:48:00.000-07:00

The Epilepsy Foundation asked me to write a testimonial for them. For those of you who really want to know who I am, you are welcome to read this.

My name is Pieter Walser, and this is my story. The full and unaltered version! To put my story in perspective, I feel I need to give you some background details. I am 32 years old and a qualified winemaker. After some studies and practical work experience, I decided to go back to university full time to study winemaking (BSC Winemaking and viticulture – a full four year course!) when I was 25 years old. I started my own business in my second year and made a lot of mistakes, lost money and in the process learned very valuable lessons! (In short: normal business processes!). I also married the most beautiful girl and long-time love of my life, Aneen, in my 3rd year. I turned to personalised winemaking in my 4th year and made wine for private clients while finishing off my final year. After graduating, I started my own wine brand called BLANKbottle (http://www.blankbottle.co.za/) which I’m still building with passion. I am a surfer and have an unstoppable passion and love for the sport of surfing. I’ve been surfing since the age of 6, and used to surf almost every day, even if only for 10 minutes! (We live 5 minutes walk from the beach).

In September 2006 I recommitted my life and marriage to God and for the first time gave all that I have to the Lord. I handed him my business and everything I have and then started the slow and endless exercise of growing in faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I think Romans 5: 1-5 says it all. We are justified by Faith and Glory in tribulation because Tribulation brings Perseverance and perseverance builds character and character hope. NOW HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!!! My wife fell pregnant with our first baby in 2006 and at 22 weeks pregnant, we found out that we were having a baby with a bilateral cleft lip and pallet. To prepare for his arrival we moved into a flat let in my parents’ home as his defect necessitated additional help with his care in the first year or so. At that stage my business was 2 years old. I was just surviving financially, still making mistakes, learning and growing in the process. We were still 100% depended on Aneen’s income, as we had been since our wedding in 2003.

Luca’s birth alone warrants a book to be written, but to cut a long story short, he was born 6 weeks premature on the 30th of September 2006. My wife was in hospital a week before he arrived and Luca was then admitted to ICU for another week. The year to come was an absolute nightmare. After months of endless screaming, 2 operations and very very little sleep, Luca finally started sleeping normally after they closed his palate at 11 months. During this time, Aneen still had to keep on working and in the day myself and my mom looked after him. I was working from home – an impossible task with no sleep and a screaming baby. Two weeks after Luca’s turnaround, we found a house to rent and moved out of my parents place. We arrived in our new home as 2 broken people with a mountain of issues to work through. If it wasn’t for God we would not have made it that far.

On the 11th of December, we celebrated the end of the hard year of tribulation with family and friends at the official BLANKbottle Year End Function (dinner at our house!). The next morning, on the first day of my holiday, I got up at 5 the morning to go surfing with a friend. The last thing I remember is walking towards the kitchen to fetch my surfboard.
The next moment (or so it felt), I was lying in the back of my wife’s car with her driving at the speed of light. I was covered in blood and she was peppering me with questions like: “What’s your name?, What day is it?” etc. My head was aching and I was getting kind of irritated with her. But when I wanted to answer, I couldn’t remember my name!

I arrived at the hospital and they did the routine EKG, EEG and MRI. They suspected epilepsy, but didn’t want to commit to a diagnosis before I consulted with the Neurologist who had already left on holiday. I refused to accept the epilepsy suspicions as I had never had anything like that ever before – I was in total denial. I didn’t want to take the prescribed medicine until I saw the Neurologist (which would’ve only been the next year) and kept on surfing during the holidays (with a borrowed life jacket in case I have another attack I might add….) In the New Year they confirmed their suspicions. I had epilepsy, and I had to face the fact. It was not so much the epilepsy that upset me, but the fact that I had to go on daily medication (especially with me being someone who refuses to even take vitamin pills!) The doctor booked me OFF FROM DRIVING a motor vehicle for 12 months and I had to stop surfing. Not driving for a whole year? I have my own business and I knew what an effect this could have on it. My income dropped to -R?????? for the first few months! Aneen, who was praying about selling her business for a while then already, made the final decision to sell her business and come and help me. We did this 100% in faith. We had a plot where we were planning to build our first house, and decided to sell it over that same December holiday to relieve us from financial pressures. I now see how God used this to rearrange our lives in order for us to pursue our purpose.

It is at that point that I had to make a choice. Am I going to stay positive or am I going to sit in the corner and feel sorry for myself? I decided to stay positive and keep on going. I bought a fantastic bicycle from my brother and began to cycle. Apart from the obvious physical and emotional benefits, my diesel expense went from roughly R2 000 a month to R0.00! I cycle to all my meetings in a 25km radius, and I’m getting fitter by the day (at first I got a few weird looks but by now most people know about my epilepsy and honesty is what BLANKbottle stands for anyhow!) I’ve adapted my business to be 100% mobile - I can (and do) pack my office into a single rucksack. When I do have to travel longer distances, I organize with friends, family or my wife to drive me, and it turns out to be very valuable quality communication time (not to mention the fantastic investment in my marriage)! At first I only thought it is negative but I now spend time with people that I never would have and organize my time better to spend more time in the office. God worked hard with us but I can honestly now say that Epilepsy had a hugely positive effect on my life.