"Supple, juicy and sweetly fruited with nice texture and some raspberry and cherry fruit as well as some wild strawberries. Crunchy and fresh with nice juiciness. Aged in two foudres, making 7000 litres. " Jamie Goode
- Winery: Testalonga
- Varietal: 100% Carignan
- Region: Swartland, South Africa
- Vintage: 2019
- Alcohol: 12.5%
- Volume: 750ml
- Closure: Cork
- Other: Organic, Vegan-friendly, contains sulphites
- Food pairing: Grilled meats & hamburgers; spaghetti Bolognese; pizza; mushrooms & onions; Parmesan
"Baby Bandito is a project we started in 2015. We wanted to work with vineyards that deliver wines that can be drunk young yet still “over deliver” in quality one would expect from our most affordable wine. There was a heavy influence from street artists (the good ones, not just your drunk student defacing someone’s wall, unless it was good) in the labels and the idea of a “series” using different and bright colours. The names of the wines come from expressions that we use as if giving encouragement to a child. “Keep on Punching” is an expression my good friend and hockey mate, Dr Lyal White, used to always say when the going got tough: “Keep on punching, the head will fall”. Testalonga
Craig and Carla Hawkins launched Testalonga in the north of Swartland, South Africa in 2008.
They are part of a revolutionary ground swell taking place in South African wine, where traditions are being challenged and brave new territory is being explored. The painfully small amount of wine that this duo produces gets snapped up in short order the world over. Known for their striking intensity and nervy energy, Craig and Carla's wines are on the cutting edge of the natural wine movement in their country.
"We currently rent 11ha of vineyards (all from the granite soils of the Paardeberg Swartland) we either farm ourselves or buy from farmers we work very closely with.
Our first wine was a skin contact Chenin blanc in 2008 and from there we have introduced new independent (mostly old) vineyards (Grenache, Muscat, Carignan, Harslevelu, Syrah) that we feel give us the quality we need to make our wines with as little manipulation as possible (in good years its as simple as picking, pressing, waiting, watching, bottling with nothing added at any stage).
We want the wines to express who we are both on the label and in the bottle, which is why humour plays an important role in communicating our story.
We recently purchased a farm on the northern mountain regions of the Swartland on Schist soils where from 2016 we will make our wine and eventually start planting vineyards. This year we are planting South Africa's first cuttings of Macabeu and Vermentino which we have high hopes for." Testalonga