The Story of Blankbottle:
Blankbottle offers something for those with an open mind and an adventurous spirit. Winemaker Pieter Walser is passionate about telling stories through his wines—both what’s in the bottle and what’s on the label. His goal is to provide an authentic, personal taste, free from the expectations often associated with specific vintages or styles. Pieter collaborates with skilled farmers and experienced viticulturists across the Western Cape and designs his own labels, ensuring a unique and creative expression in every bottle.
“In 2004, a lady came to my house (then also my office) to buy wine. She asked for anything but Shiraz. “I don’t drink Shiraz”, were her exact words. I poured her a glass of wine. She loved it and bought 3 cases. It was a straight Shiraz.” -Pieter Walser
The Story behind the Label:
I am not sure which one of these 2 wines should be crowned “Worst name of all time”, but I would say that our most-popular-story-to-date-wine, “Familiemoord”, is still one short step ahead of “The Pink BOMB”. What you might not be aware of is that Familiemoord and The Pink BOMB are in fact relatives, as in REAL family. They both originate from (in my eyes) the most beautiful wine producing area in South Africa. The Piekenierskloof… 235 km drive from my house and +-800m above sea-level. Massively high sun intensity, cool nights, sandstone soils, dry land bush vines – all ingredients for all-time Grenache. The grapes for both these wines hit the winery at the same time and we subsequently hand sort through about 5% of the total intake. These go as whole bunches to the bottom of a tank, packed around the tap forming a kind of filter/sieve. We then take the balance of the grapes, remove the stems and crush the berries allowing the juice to flow freely. As we add the crushed grapes to the tank, we try not to disturb our initial “grapes-whole-bunch-filter”. The purpose of the “filter” is to block the movement of the skins and pips to only allow the clear juice to flow towards the tap. At this point in time, the juice for the 2 wines get split up and journey on much different paths. We allow the free run salmon pink juice, destined for The Pink BOMB, to drain from the tap and pump it into older French oak barrels (this process takes roughly 2 days until 70% of the juice is removed). Fermentation takes place in barrel and the wine is aged on the lees for 10 months before bottling. The remaining 30% of the juice in the original tank as well as the skins and pulp then go through fermentation. During this process, the fibers in the pulp break down and the trapped juice is exposed to the skins. The result: an extracted, perfumy, fine tannin, maximum skin vs juice ratio RED called Familiemoord. Due to the different sugar levels of the free-run juice vs. pulp as well as the difference in fermentation temperature, the 2 wines differ in alcohol with the rosé being slightly higher (hence the name). BUT please note that the Rosé is still fine and delicate. A wine in balance will always be the name of the game.
