With its revolutionary influenced label, The Empire Strikes Back tells the story of Pieter leaping to the defence of Stellenbosch, the original old guard and empire of South African wine, in its fightback against the trendy new kid on the block, the Swartland. Now heres a white with plenty in the tank for the years to come. Its subtle on the nose to start, offering sprays of spring apple blossom, tarte fine layered with pears and ground almonds, clementines, proper cloudy apple juice and a lingering anise note. As it opens up, theres some lychee and pineapple too, and the palate is grippy and with more of that lovely apple juice character thats persistent all the way through to the finish. Tasting it over several days gives a glimpse to its future wed say drink now-2028.

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The tale behind the name BLANKbottle is that when Pieter was starting out, he made a small parcel of Shiraz and was left with a few unlabelled cases. One day, a woman wanted to buy a wine Anything but Shiraz, she told him. Pieter shrugged and sold her the unlabelled Shiraz, neglecting to mention the variety. A few weeks later she returned demanding more, saying it was the best thing shed ever drunk. For Pieter, it was a lesson on the gap between what people think they like (or dislike) and what they actually like (or dislike). After that, he decided not to list the varieties on his labels. Every one of Pieters wines is a story, rather than a grape variety, and its the juice inside the bottle which reveals that story. He doesnt own any vines, but instead scours South Africas winelands for top-quality fruit that has somehow slipped under the radar, now sourcing from nearly 70 sites. Some years hell make 20 wines, other years 35. With the benefit of anonymity, variety and regional identity take a back seat while parcel expression does the driving. These are some of South Africas most original wines, made by one of South Africas most original winemakers.