Blankbottle, Little William, Ceres Plateau, South Africa, 2022

Producer Profile

Blankbottle is the fiercely independent South African wine project of Pieter Walser, a winemaker known for rejecting convention in favour of curiosity, instinct and storytelling.

Founded in the early 2000s, the name stems from Walser’s early trade in unlabelled bottles and reflects his core philosophy: wine should be judged solely on what is in the glass, not what is written on the label. Each release is treated as an individual narrative, with no grape varieties listed and no fixed stylistic boundaries. Walser owns no vineyards, instead working as a modern-day négociant, sourcing fruit from exceptional sites across the Western Cape, often in extremely small parcels. The result is an ever-evolving portfolio of distinctive, site-driven wines, many of which are made only once and never repeated. Each label is handcrafted by owner-winemaker Pieter Walser, using a variety of techniques such as woodcuts, lino, pencil drawings, stencils etc. Having no indication of varietals on the label - leaving it BLANK - removing all preconceptions as to what lies beyond.

Viticulture

Produced from grapes grown on a small vineyard up at 750 meters above sea-level Ceres Plateaux in sandstone soil. Vines trained according to the vertical shoot positioning method on a traditional 3 wire trellis system.

Winemaking

The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness and cooled overnight to 4 degrees celsius. The next morning the grapes were hand sorted. It fermented in 2 lots. One as whole clusters in an open top fermenter and the other as whole clusters in a submerged cap closed fermenter. The juice underwent spontaneous fermentation and stayed on the skins for as long as possible. Aged in various vessels, older and some new oak for 12 months, blended and bottled.

Tasting Note

A pure and fragrant Syrah from un-grafted vines grown at altitude high on the Ceres Plateau. Finesse, lift and elegance draw more parallels to Pinot Noir than Shiraz, with energy, pepper spice and fine acidity thread throughout.

Food matching

Duck, grilled lamb or charcuterie, especially dishes with pepper or herbs.