Craig sources the grapes for this red from a bush vine plot planted in 2021 that is run by a good friend and winemaker, Jurgen Gouws, who farms the block organically. It's meaty, but fragrant, medium-bodied red with lots of blue fruits, lavender, liquorice and a little earth. Lively and very cleverly made modern natural wine with heart and soul.

Craig Hawkins is the brains behind the brilliant Swartland winery Testalonga, on the Western Cape of South Africa. He and his wife, Carla, have their own piece of paradise, Bandits Kloof, in the northern part of Swartland. Here, they make some of the country's most exciting wines. But it wasn't always this way.... After leaving his high-profile job as head winemaker at local powerhouse Lammershoek, he was still busy making wines for an Austrian winery and trying to find his way to creative freedom. He knew the types of wines he wanted to make - he'd tasted their ilk overseas, from great growers and makers like Francois Cotat and Thierry Puzelat. But the local wine export board continually rejected his wines for their lack of 'typicity' - i.e., they were different from his neighbours' wines. But that was the very point! Today, he is regarded as one of the most influential and certainly the most exciting winemakers of not only South Africa, but the New World. He refuses to bow to convention in his quest for excellence and authenticity, and the wines are stunning as a result.