2023 Testalonga Baby Bandito Follow Your Dreams

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

100% Carignan - Gorgeous on the nose, raspberry and white pepper join a plethora of red fruit: pomegranate, cranberry, cherry – all sliding into a silky smooth, sappy palate, light in alcohol and weight it is again sort of a South African Trousseau look alike - bright, attractive fruity and savoury at the same time this is a wine that quenches thirst! A beauty.

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.