Spice Route, Obscura Qvevri Red, Coastal Region, South Africa, 2019

Type 'qvevri' into The Wine Society's search engine and only two wines come up, this Shiraz-Grenache blend and the white wine companion – not from Georgia but from South Africa's Coastal region. The Spice Route winemaker Charl du Plessis visited Georgia and fell in love with the wines. He had the same, traditional large clay qvevri shipped back to South Africa and started to make wines using the same philosophy of minimal intervention and natural wild yeasts. This maiden release was blended from two qvevri of whole-bunch Shiraz, one of destemmed Grenache and another of 25% whole-bunch / 75% destemmed Grenache. After a spontaneously occurring fermentation, the wine is left to age, on skins, for six months. It's a truly delicious experiment, earthy and spicy but also sapid, textured and grippy, with lively dark berry fruit. A great food wine, this should be enjoyed within two days of opening.