TESTALONGA EL BANDITO I AM THE NINJA PÉT NAT 2023

A much sought after pét nat from Swartland's Testalonga, made with grapes from old Chenin vines. A light, fine, creamy fizz, offering super fresh fruit flavours of green apple and white pear – like lemonade for grown-ups.

‘I am the Ninja’ is Testalonga’s latest addition to the portfolio. Craig & Carla love Méthode Ancestral wines and the texture they bring. They wanted this wine to be drier than the “I wish I was a Ninja” as they feel Chenin has more depth when it is drier. The fruit comes from a 64-year-old sandstone vineyard on the Piketberg Mountain. As for the label, the photo was taken by their friend Martin Shambrock in London of his neighbour’s dog, Layla. They love the photo and think it suits this wine perfectly; it is serious but playful at the same time.

The grapes were harvested by hand and cold fermented in stainless steel tanks. During fermentation, the wine was racked plenty to remove sediment. After two months and when the wine still had 30 g/L residual sugar, it was bottled under a crown cap to complete fermentation and build natural carbonation. After 11 months, the bottles were riddled and disgorged in October 2023, topped off with the same wine from decanted bottles, and sealed again with a crown cap. No SO2 was added, and the wine saw no settling or fining agents throughout the process.