Jikken Bareru Tinta Barocca 2017

The towns folk of Klein Karoo liked Leon Coetzee & Margaux Nel well enough, but the pair made them uneasy. Leon & Margaux thought too big and were too keen to push boundaries for people with simpler designs. They would rebuke Leon and Margaux, asking why they experimented with unconventional winemaking methods and uncommon grape varieties. “Why can’t you settle down and grow a nice Chenin Blanc?” The people of the town would enquire.

But that experimental spirit, that led Edison to invent the light bulb or Frankenstein to loose an electric zombie on his pitchfork wielding neighbours as retribution for them all sharing his Netflix password, is not so easily suppressed. Unperturbed by the local’s scepticism, Leon & Margaux released a label called Jikken Bareru (experimental barrels). The tiny parcel of wine made from Portuguese grape Tinta Barocca, was so rich, with bright flavours of damson, kirsch, bramble exotic spice and cocoa nibs, that one sip won over the people of Klein Karoo as they realised a little experimentation was just what the town needed!
The first fluttering of what would later become Leon Coetzee & Margaux Nel fledgling wine & vine operation started in 2007 with a few experimental barrels put to one side in the cellar, what followed was almost a half-decade of trial and experiment with a mere 360 bottle release in 2012 under The Fledge & Co. After this they slowly expanded the range, now incorporating over 35 vineyards across 15 varieties & the entire length and breadth of the Cape Their approach is very much "terroir by truck;" sourcing the very best fruit for each of their wines, working hand in hand with top notch farmers, harvesting every berry by hand & crafting the wines, utilizing traditional techniques in the family cellar. Each of the wines are hand crafted with care from start to finish and aim showcase the very best of the Cape's myriad of ancient soils, climates and dedicated folk who tend the vines.