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Craig Hawkins is undoubtedly one of South Africa’s most talented and innovative winemakers. He is firstly and foremost the head winemaker at Lammershoek, but his true passion lies with the wines he makes under his own label – Testalonga, comprising of the El Bandito Chenin Blanc, a non-skin-macerated Chenin Blanc counterpart called the El Bandito Cortez, the King of Grapes (Grenache) and Redemption (Shiraz).

At Testalonga, Craig freely experiments with bush vine Chenin Blanc, creating extraordinary, complex and unique wines, by using long skin maceration. This creates elegant wines with high acidity – a technique he learnt whilst working with Dirk Niepoort in Portugal.

The name Testalonga was inspired while working in France in 2007 when Rémy Pedreno from Roc d’Anglade introduced him to an “orange wine” made by Antonio Perrino from Italy. “It actually had an orange colour and to me it was a new set of smells, new flavours, new tannins …” he muses.  He telephoned Perrino, who gave him permission to use his nickname “Testalonga”, meaning “long face”, for creating his own label. “Testalonga was also the name of a famous bandit and politician from Sicily and I liked the name as these were white wines that defy convention. And I enjoy a bit of humor”.

When he chose “Made from grapes” as the motto of his Testalonga wine-brand, what he meant was “…and ONLY grapes”! Although he does bring a touch of pragmatism to his idealism, by adding a small amount of sulphur at bottling if the wine will be improved as a result of it.

Craig has since designed all his own, very unconventional labels, by mixing various off-beat elements, including playful art and quotes by farm workers and cellar hands.  Sadly he has so far had all his Testalonga El Bandito wines rejected by the Wine & Spirit Board when applying for certification – for the wine, with its deep colour, showing too much “oxidation character”.  He is optimistic though, because a proposal for five new categories including skin-macerated white wines is being considered by the Board. This follows representations by him and four other free-thinking Swartland winemakers, namely his mentor Eben Sadie, Adi Badenhorst, Callie Louw and Chris Mullineux.

Cultivar:  100% non-skin-macerated Chenin Blanc

Winemaker:  Craig Hawkins

Ullage:  No ullage visible

Cork:  Cork in excellent condition

Color:  Pale yellow color with only a slight cloudiness from being bottled with no fining or filtration.

Bouquet:  There are some beautifully nuanced aromas of green apples, citrus and star fruit, with delicate floral and mineral tones.

Palate:  Very dry on entry with flavors of yellow peach and mineral tones, revealing a subtle hint of spice on the mid palate. At 11.5% Alc it still has a bracing acidity, beautifully balanced that leads to an elegant, clean finish.

Food Pairing:  We recommend this wine with fresh water fish or calamari with a lemon drizzle or simply as an aperitif!

Score:  88/100

Santé!

Germain