Testalonga,El Bandito, Mangaliza, Swartland, South Africa

Craig and Carla Hawkins' wines seem to get better with every vintage. They make beautiful, poised, satisfying and utterly lovely wines from low yielding vines mainly growing on granitic soils in Swartland. Often using techniques including whole bunch ferments, extended skin contact and old oak foudres, with just a touch of sulphites at bottling, these are lovely, almost delicate wines that are a million miles from the stereotypical blockbuster South African wines you may be used too.

They are now getting incredibly sought after and we have to be quick on our feet to get an allocation each year.

Harslevelu is a Hungarian grape variety which you probably haven't heard of, you may have heard of Tokaji Aszu though and this wine is a blend of Harslevelu and Furmint.

Craig and Carla have taken these grapes from vines which were planted in 1972 and approached wine making as hands off as possible. Wild fermentation with indigenous yeasts with zero fining or filtration and minimal sulphur addition.

This wine also wins Kitsy's label of the year 2022!!