David & Nadia is a first generation family owned Swartland project and we are members of the Swartland Independent Producers. With family roots in the Swartland dating back to 1757, we focus on dry land farmed bush vines, soil diversity, climate and people of one region only.

In the vineyard we aim for biological farming whilst more vineyards are being farmed more organically year on year and in the cellar we work as natural as possible. It is all about the soil and vineyards after all. We believe in a pure, fresh and natural approach as style where site and soil are at work with minimal influence from a winemaking point of view.

Blend: Chenin blanc (51%), Sémillon (11%), Colombar (10%), Roussanne (8%), Clairette blanche (6%), Marsanne (6%), Verdelho (4%), Viognier (2%) and Grenache blanc (2%).

The Aristargos is again dominated by Chenin blanc and shows our focus on working with Certified Heritage Vineyards (Chenin blanc, Sémillon, Colombar and Clairette blanche). We also keep the backbone of this wine from granitic soils of the Paardeberg. Chenin blanc from shallow shale soils in the Paardeberg and iron rich clay soils to the west of Malmesbury are also added. We still see dry land farmed bush vines deliver high quality wines year after year, and this showcases the ultimate reason why Chenin blanc is our main focus in the Swartland. In total, grapes from 16 different vineyards were used, picked in 23 different lots.

The Swartland is known for extremely warm summers with a low average winter rainfall. On the west, the Swartland borders on the Atlantic ocean and on the east inland by mountain ranges. Due to this location, a large diurnal shift is observed where the average daytime temperatures are much higher than the average night time temperatures. All of our vineyards are however inland and our climate is considered to be mediterranean.

The grapes were for the most part whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented and then matured for 11 months in old neutral French oak barrels. The grapes from the two Sémilllon vineyards were soaked on their skins separately for a week before being pressed off and then, for the first time, matured in a 2 700 L concrete tank for the year. The Colombar was also left on the skins (for 5 days) before being pressed off and matured in old oak barrels. Two Chenin blanc components were fermented and matured in concrete vessels – one an egg, the other a square tank. Approximately 25% concrete matured in total for 11 months and the rest in old oak.