Luddite Wines / Fam. Verburg & Meyer
Niels Verburg is one of those people who you immediately want to befriend. With his imposing stature and beaming smile, he stands out and magically draws people in.
At an early age, while he was working in Australia, he realised that Shiraz was "his" grape. In Chile, he later found the inspiration for the way he wanted to make his wine.
Together with his wife Penny, he planted his first vines in 1996. The first vintage was pressed in 2000. The small winery with just 6 hectares of vines is located just outside the village of Bot River. Walker Bay is only 30 kilometres away. The mild Mediterranean climate from the nearby ocean gives the vines on the south-western slopes of the Houw Hoek mountains a slow and long growing period. This results in spicy Shiraz with elegant fruit sweetness.
The name of the vineyard refers to the Luddites, 19th century English textile workers who fought against the Industrial Revolution. Consequently, Niels is rather reluctant to use "technology", as he says in a humorous way, both when caring for the vineyards and working in the cellar. Vinification involves as little intervention as possible, if any.
Niels and Penny have fulfilled their dream. In addition to the vines, there are also some olive trees and a few lucky pigs are reared: a rural idyll in South Africa. They epitomize the great change occurring in South Africa since the 1990s: moving away from mass production and towards independent quality wines that do not fear comparison with top international wines.
White wines from Luddite Wines / Fam. Verburg & Meyer
Red wines from Luddite Wines / Fam. Verburg & Meyer
from Luddite Wines / Fam. Verburg & Meyer
Producer
Distillerie Tessendier & Fils
Grape growers, producers of Cognac and innovative spirits
“Time is of the essence for creating high-quality spirits” (Jérôme Tessendier)
The Tessendier & Fils Distillery, established in 1880, is a family-run business based in Cognac and Jarnac, on the banks of the Charente, which produces a diverse portfolio of high-quality Cognacs (see Cognac Park) with a modern twist. The heirs, Jérôme and Lilian Tessendier, have succeeded in modernising the family business in the face of the international dimension of the market: first by creating their own brand of Cognac, then by drawing on their ancestral savoir-faire to refine other types of spirits. This knowledge was forged over time, improved from generation to generation and is now shared by the Tessendier Distillery through three Cognac series (Park, Campagnère, Grand Breuil), each with its own unique character, its own history.
Viñedos Terranoble
Soon after their arrival, the first Spanish colonists were already remarking the ideal vine growing conditions in Chile. In this country of great contrasts, embedded between the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, the many wine regions differ significantly through micro-climate, topography and altitudes, and geological properties. TerraNoble owns vineyards in three different regions and so can provide different varieties with the most suitable growing conditions.
Weingut Schloss Gobelsburg
The first written evidence of Schloss Gobelsburg dates from 1074, but it was in 1171 that the Cistercian monks from the Zwettl monastery obtained the first vineyards at Heiligenstein and at Gaisberg in the Kamptal. Visitors entering the baroque-style complex built on a slight mound sense this tradition, this spirit, this experience accumulated over the centuries. The view takes in all the surroundings, from the village of Gobelsburg to the vine-covered hills of Heiligenstein. Inside, near the parish church where couples say yes for life, when the weather is pleasant, the pretty and romantic garden invites all to rest for a while.