2023 Testalonga Baby Bandito Chin Up

WINEMAKER: Craig & Carla Hawkins
REGION: Swartland, SA
VARIETY: Cinsault
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic

100% Cinsault - Gorgeous light red cherry colour, and a little floral perfume on the nose. The palate is light-bodied, clean and fresh, very appealing in every way, I love the lithe and sultry nature of Cinsault – incredibly charming and appealing and disarming in how immediately accessible it is! If the Follow your dreams is like Trousseau than this is like Ploussard!

During the apartheid, the South African wine industry was completely dominated by one organization, which controlled everything from production to price. Modern day renegades, Craig & Carla Hawkins, established Testalonga in 2008 and shook the industry to its core. Settling in Swartland, they started with two barrels of macerated chenin - the first 'orange' wine made in South Africa. The deeply conservative authorities often rejected their wines for export for not exhibiting 'typicity' of South African wine.