The Wine Thief Costa Del Swart Fauxjolais

Simply delicious. Bursting with bright red fruit cranberry, raspberry and strawberry as well. The texture is quite alluring and it fills out beautifully in the middle of your plate and takes on a lovely creamy texture and finishes with the same bright red fruity notes. There is a wonderful acidity that makes you feel like the wine is fresh and alive. It is all very well balanced and is another example of those wines that get you in trouble and is empty before you know it. It is not a wine that has been made to age thus would not recommend keeping it for more then two years. Would go smashingly well with charcuterie and cheese and would be an ideal companion to a picnic.

There are a million things to say about this wine. First and foremost though, it is fantastic. exactly what you want to be drinking in summer, it is light crunchy and bursting with fruit. 

 Ewan Mackenzie is the wine thief, a fellow sommelier who moved away from the floor to pursue a passion for making premium small batch wines. The name is derived from his MO where he moves around the Cape Winelands, “stealing “ little parcels of fantastic grapes and collaborating with some of the country’s finest wine makers to make small batch production of wines. He combines his knowledge as a somm and the expertise of the winemakers to make the wines. He focuses on the different and unusual, and among his productions are single varietal bottlings of lesser known grapes like Marsanne and Viura.

The Fauxjolais is a play on French Beaujolias Nouveau. A style of wine made to be drunk and enjoyed young, full of fruit and with low alcohol.

It  is a collaboration with winemaker Christa Van Chevallerie and rather cleverly  made from pinotage. It is another example of  how many cool things you can do with pinotage. Consistent with the style it is a 2020 vintage with only 12% alcohol. Just the sort of red wine  you need in your glass when you are sitting by the pool. However do not take it lightly a lot of detail was involved in making this wine, it has spent a portion of its short life in barrel and comes from a vineyard planted in 1969 in Riebek. 

It is an incredible bargain for what really is a crafted product, only a tiny amount was made and everything was done by hand, foot stomping was involved even during the production . Comes with a stunning label as well.