Familiemoord, Blank Bottle

A wine with quite the story behind it, based on the day that Pieter was close to being arrested for supposedly murdering his son! Panic not, it was nothing more than a simple misunderstanding, but Pieter wanted to preserve the story that made it into the local newspaper on a bottle of wine. This wine is now 100% Grenache from Piekenierskloof, a high lying ridge with some of the most fabulous old vine Grenache in South Africa. You can tell in this wine – it’s hauntingly beautiful, with oh so pretty aromatics and delicate flavours, but certainly not short on flavour. Think of the Garnachas from Gredos, and dial down the tannins a little. Redcurrant coulis and raspberry ripple swirls across the palate with bruised herbs, gentle spice, soft leather, freesias, and a silken, seamless palate with just the right amount of crunch. As Pieter says, “it was the most beautiful Grenache we could find”.

The Maker:

Pieter Hauptfleisch Waiser is one of the most original winemakers, with a far from orthodox journey into wine that’s continued in everything he does with the BLANKbottle. He went to study winemaking at university when in his mid-twenties, already married and with a child, with his classmates fresh out of school. He’s never worked for another winemaker in South Africa, and has built up his business from scratch on a wing and a prayer, with a whole lot of natural talent and an irrepressible thirst for the exciting and the unconventional.

Not owning any vineyards, like a Hunter S Thompson of South African winemaking, Pieter scours the Cape Winelands for exciting sites, clocking up thousands of miles each harvest driving to pick from vineyards hours away from his cellar, from Ceres to Stellenbosch, and just about every grape variety you’ve heard of, Chardonnay to Chenin, Viognier to Verdelho. In any given year, he makes around 30 different cuvees, all with an often amusing or brilliant story behind the name too. A number of wines are only ever produced as once offs, and in true Walser style, he designs all the labels himself too.

The tale behind the name BLANKbottle is that when Pieter was starting out, he made a small parcel of Shiraz and was left with a few unlabelled cases. One day, a woman wanted to buy a wine – “Anything but Shiraz,” she told him. Pieter shrugged and sold her the unlabelled Shiraz, neglecting to mention the variety. A few weeks later she returned demanding more, saying it was the best thing she’d ever drunk. For Pieter, it was a lesson on the gap between what people think they like (or dislike) and what they actually like (or dislike). After that, he decided not to list the varieties on his labels. Every one of Pieter’s wines is a story, rather than a grape variety, and it’s the juice inside the bottle which reveals that story. He doesn’t own any vines, but instead scours South Africa’s winelands for top-quality fruit that has somehow slipped under the radar, now sourcing from nearly 70 sites. Some years he’ll make 20 wines, other years 35. With the benefit of anonymity, variety and regional identity take a back seat while parcel expression does the driving. These are some of South Africa’s most original wines, made by one of South Africa’s most original winemakers.

Food Pairing:

Pairs well with slow-cooked game, red meats, roasted vegetables, wild mushrooms, risotto, and soft cheeses.