Barely touching ground so much is happening this time of year.  Loving it! It is so busy that we only get time for ONE bottle of wine each evening; terrible!  Well, as if normal work pressure is not enough we also need to focus on our time consuming hobby – producing awesome wine!

We’re happy to report the bottling went smoothly – we did not break a single bottle.  Not bad if you take into consideration that all 2150 bottles were bottled individually – by hand. And now the wait!  The wine needs to ‘chill out’ in the bottle, get labelled, boxed and then only will we be able to experience these beauties.

Most of the alcoholic fermentations are complete. The reds must all go through a second fermentation called malolactic fermentation. This is the process of converting the harsh acids into a more accessible acid. Sounds weird but acid in wine is the salt in your food that brings it all into balance.  This year’s Grenache is very late and we will only harvest later this week. Our Sauvignon Blanc goes through a period of extended lees contact, post fermentation, and will only be available in October 2013. Thank goodness we still have enough stock of the 2012 to get us there – is there life without a good Sauvy?

Harvest 2013

We’ve updated our website’s photo gallery, which now boasts a couple of albums. See; you ask, we listen…

Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa

New Listings
Exciting news – Big meets Small. The Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, in Camps Bay, has listed our Sauvignon Blanc 2012, so now you have one more spot (and may we add, a stunning spot) to enjoy our wine. Devon Valley Hotel in Stellenbosch has listed our Chenin Blanc 2012 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2010 and Café Chameleon, in Plattekloof, is still doing their magic with our Sauvignon Blanc 2012 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2010. (See more retailers)

So, what’s next?
Just to break the myth that we are only busy over harvest, we now need to finalise and print labels for the newly bottled wines.  When we are happy with the integration of all the components in the bottle we will be able to introduce these wines to you.

If you love a thick juicy steak with Cabernet Sauvignon; this one is for you. Twelve Apostles Winery is featured in the latest Red Meat / Rooivleis Magazine. So with autumn on our doorstep we lift a glass to red wine weather and good times. We are running quite low on stock in general; see our available wines. Please remember that you are more than welcome to mix and match to make up a case.

All the best

Chris and Charles

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Click! 2013 is in full swing. Back to school and back to work. And as with the holidays some New Year resolutions are probably also already a thing of the past.
Harvest is around the corner and we need to make our final decisions in terms of quantities, cultivars and wines to produce in 2013. Not always that easy. The grapes we harvest now will only be in the bottle and available in 2015. So if you have any idea of what you would prefer to drink mid-2015, please let us know! heh heh.
We face a very busy time over the next two months; busy, but never too busy. There will always be time for a tasting or just a bit of geeky wine chat – hey, these are some of the reasons we drink and enjoy wine, why be shy about it! In the short term we will be busy with:

Harvest 2013
Fun Fun Fun: We are on track and almost ready for harvest, the grapes are looking wonderful and veraison is happening fast (basically this is where the small green berries change colour, increase in size and become soft). First grapes through the press for us will be Sauvignon Blanc and we expect the grapes to reach phenolic ripeness in early March. This is where we get our hands dirty and from this point onwards, one word – chaos. In general, harvest for most wineries will start in +- 2 weeks, typically the guys producing bubbly. Exciting!

Blending 2011
The new Apostle: Before harvest we will be making up our 2011 blend; the new Apostle. There is a lot of pressure on us, both the Matthew 2009 and Mark 2010 sold out in no time, and it is of course our objective to improve on previous years, in terms of drinkability, quality, longevity and style. Once the blend is in the bottle we will sample it (often) and then name it…
This is then followed by a bit of de-stemming, crushing, settling, inoculation, fermentation, racking and aging of all the 2013 grapes – all good fun!

A quick update on our current wines, vintages and availability

• Red Wine: Shiraz 2010, Merlot 2010 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2010
• White Wine: Sauvignon Blanc 2012 and Chenin Blanc 2012

For more information on the specific wines please see Wines

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Wow, 2012 – gone! We’re sure you also agree. It feels like only yesterday when we were discussing 2012; what wines to produce, where we would source our grapes and the quantities. Crazy, but exciting.

Our second Apostle, Mark 2010, is sold out and, as with the Matthew [2009], Mark will only make its return every 12 years. This was a beautiful Bordeaux-style blend, a truly great wine! So if you still have some stock, enjoy every sip.  We will be making up the blend of the new Apostle, and naming it, in January. We are very happy with the individual components and are excited to follow the development of this, our latest Apostle.

But - we also have good news! The Chenin Blanc 2012 is labelled and ready to impress. We produced only a single 300 litre barrel of this wine, which is ± 335 bottles. This barrel fermented Chenin was left on the lees for 7 months and shows a wonderfully full character – tropical fruit, citrus and hint of honey. This wine is now available – at only R53 per bottle.

And finally, a huge ‘Thank You’ – for your support during 2012 and for believing in our wines. You have made it possible for us to live our passion. May you have a blessed festive season and return safely and fully charged, ready to be ridiculously successful in 2013.

P.S. Let us play Santa. We can deliver to your holiday destination at only R5 per bottle delivery. See our price list

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Sauvignon Blanc 2012 – and the rest of our babies.

At Twelve Apostles Winery we produce limited quantities of wine – seldom more than two barrels of a specific cultivar. It is always a challenge to convince the grape grower to sell us a bakkie load of his best flavour-packed grapes, but when you are offered 4 tons of grapes from a block that has been delivering top quality grapes and award winning wines for years, you grab the offer with both hands!’

Zevenwacht in Stellenbosch gave us such an opportunity and the proof of the pudding is now in the bottle! Just in time for spring – our maiden vintage of Sauvignon Blanc!

Producing a good Sauvignon Blanc takes some added effort though. 3am harvest, reductive style of winemaking, temperature controlled fermentation and extended lees contact to name some of that worthwhile effort. Our objective was to produce a multi-dimensional wine, full and fat on the palate with a subtle herbaceous, flinty and mineral character complimented by tropical, yellow fruit aroma. I think we’ve done exactly that. We believe the perfect Sauvignon Blanc must show a good balance between these green and fruit compounds, this will ensure greater drinkability and enjoyment. To soften the acidity and add to the mouth feel we’ve added a small percentage of Semillon, pushing this wine into a new dimension!

Sauvignon Blanc is just one of those wines that will always have a following. It is such a beautiful wine when done right and I can’t think of a better time to enjoy it on… well, any occasion.

We produced 2400 bottles of Sauvignon Blanc, which sounds like a lot, but if you compare this to some of the commercial wineries producing up to 12 million bottles of a specific wine, we are, in the true sense, small scale producers. We can triple our production and still qualify as garagiste winemakers.

As Sauvignon Blanc has a high, natural acidity there are a couple of guidelines when pairing with food. Match the acidity in the food with wine that is equal in acidity. A salad with a decent helping of your favourite Greek dressing will “thin out” most wines and the wine will taste dull. So if you have a wine with very high acidity and want it to appear richer and “easier” give it a tart dish – problem solved!

If you need to lift the flavours of a subtle, easy dish, pair it with Sauvignon Blanc – it will lift the flavours. Also, if the dish is slightly salty, a Sauvignon Blanc will rescue your dinner party.

When it comes to cheese avoid the creamy Camembert and Cheddar and rather steer towards hard cheese like Parmigiano or goats milk feta, both of which have a higher salt content.

Sauvignon Blanc 2012

For the rest of our 2012 (and 2011) wines – all the malolactic fermentations are complete and the wine is in a so called “safe zone.”  Now the wine needs to relax and have a good bonding session with their friend oak – French Oak.

Later this year we will release the Chenin Blanc 2012, which is still in barrel. Total production is 1 x 300lt barrel.

The 2010 red wines are showing more and more character – it is wonderful how a bit of time in the bottle brings out the best in a wine. We are so pleased with these wines.  I am sure those of you who have recently tried them will acknowledge this.

In closing, Cape Wine Master, Winifred Bowman tasted our Sauvignon Blanc – “Rich and upfront tropical fruit in unashamedly new World style. Mouthfilling with a good acidity and dry, crisp finish.”

And our Garagiste forum:  “Herby, passion fruit nose, nice acidity, full palate”

For a full list of wines available, order form or contact details please see Our wines or Print order form

Trust you will enjoy the wines as much as we do.

Charles and Chris Lourens

Garagiste  |  Limited Production  |  Handcrafted  |  Small Scale Winemaking

(Yes, we still deliver wine door to door at only R5 per bottle, nationally. Min R60)

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In June we released the Shiraz 2010. Thank you for all the support and compliments. Shiraz is without a doubt a South African favourite; it is because it goes so well with biltong if you ask me. Let’s answer some of the questions we received in June:

1) Will the Shiraz 2010 benefit from cellaring (age well?) – Our 2009 wines are drinking better and better each day. So absolutely! We don’t produce a “drink now” style of wine, so my gut-feel tells me the wine will show great character between year 3 and 6.

2) Do you recommend decanting the wine? No, there will be little to no sediment in the bottle. It is not advisable to decant the wine to aerate, as it is still too young. After opening, I would definitely recommend allowing the wine to stand in the bottle for an hour before drinking it. This will open up the wine and bring out the fruit flavours. (Yes, technically what I’m saying is to aerate the wine, but not by physically decanting it.)

3) Why don’t Twelve Apostles Winery offer mixed cases? Well, actually that is a brilliant idea. So let’s do it!

The Matthew 2009 is basically sold out, so the new Apostle Mark is now ready for release (also a Bordeaux style blend.) All the reds are 2010?s, so it will make up the perfect 2010 mixed case.

New release: Mark 2010
The individual components have all been matured for +-12 months in 2nd – 3rd fill French Oak. The blend was carefully made up, bottled and left for a further +-14 months before release. The idea behind the Mark was to produce a lighter-styled Bordeaux blend, where each of the varietals’ strengths are used to create and transform the blend into a beautiful wine. All the fruit was sourced from the Bottelary Hills, Stellenbosch. Only 600 bottles Mark were produced.  (Cabernet 68%, Merlot 23% and Cabernet Franc 9%)

(Yes, we are giving you a “nice price” and we will keep the subsidised delivery cost)

For a full list of wines available, order form or contact details please see Our wines

Garagiste  |  Limited Production  |  Handcrafted  |  Small Scale Winemaking

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