Intellego Wines "Halagasha" Pinotage Swartland, 2020

Intellego Wines started off in 2009 as funds from winemaker/founder, Jurgen Gouws' Russian harvest trip as well as selling second hand barrels getting the project of its feet. Intellego translates “to understand” in Latin and is aptly named as Jurgen is just beginning to understand more than the potential of this incredible region. Gouws is one of Swartland’s young guns, a laidback guy with a surfer’s tan and a wry smile. He currently owns no vineyards and no cellar of his own, but developed his own brand Intellego while working at Lammershoek with Craig 'El Bandito' Hawkins. His wall of old barrels in the rented space at Annexkloof bears the names of favorite musicians, DJs… and women.

Jurgen notes that “Craig was one of the first to start making fresher wines, from around 2010”, as he explains that fashion rather than “terroir” is to blame for the alcohol and oak bombs of old. He’s not a fan of what he terms “the Robert Parker way” – serious extraction, new oak and over-ripe fruit. This style became popular post-1994, leading to “hugely endowed”, soft, early-maturing wines that have not always held up well in middle age.