2023 Testalonga El Bandito Monkey Gone to Heaven
WINEMAKER: Craig & Carla Hawkins
REGION: Swartland, SA
VARIETY: Mourvèdre
VITICULTURE: Organic/Biodynamic
A smooth, juicy and pure a Mourvèdre as you can imagine and that keeps it clean — none of the rusticity that can happen with the grape. Ripe mulberry and raspberry come first, followed by some herbal garrigue flavours and a refreshing fluidity in the mouth that screams Jura. Super, and full of life!
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.