The BlankBottle Winery is located on a farm outside Somerset West in South Africa’s Western Cape. Critically-acclaimed Winemaker Peter Walser's operation is unconventional to say the least. There are no signs, no formal wine tasting facilities, he owns no vineyards and rarely makes the same wine twice - a unique approach which has gained him a considerable cult following. The philosophy behind his winemaking is simply not to think too much about it and that one should care much more about enjoying what is actually in the bottle rather than the contents of the label. Hence he deliberately leaves his labels quite vague, freeing him to explore a vast range of styles and varieties without limitations. The result is over 40 different small lots of unique low intervention wines made exclusively with small batches of grapes bought from around 60 vineyards all over the Western Cape.
“In 2004, a lady came to my house to buy wine. She asked for anything but Shiraz. “I don’t drink Shiraz”, were her exact words. I poured her a glass of wine. She loved it and bought 3 cases. It was a straight Shiraz”.