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The Growing Legend of Fledge and Co.

Fledge & Co base their operations out in Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo district, making most of their wines in the BoPlaas cellars. But while they may seem cloistered away, a gargantuan 400km East of Cape Town, their influence spreads far and wide, as they hunt down fruit from unique vineyards right across the Cape Winelands. And that, really is why we love Fledge so much.

Today’s wine is a Platter 5-star Tinta Barocca harvested from old bush vines planted in 1971 on the farm of Jakkalsfontein. Most notably, these are vines that were tended and cared for by the legendary farmer and Viticulturist Andre Swart, who managed the farm, and used to have winemakers like Eben Sadie, Adi Badenhorst, and Andrea Mullineux lining up around the block to work with him. In the age of the Vigneron, an example like Andre Swart is something worth celebrating.

Sadly, Andre passed away in early 2023, but Fledge & Co winemaker Leon Coetzee has dedicated this award-winning bottling to the memory of one of the Swartland’s true Vignerons.

Now, if you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription then you’ll have to hunt this wine down in your own time in order to experience it’s joys. But until then, here are my tasting notes and some technical specs.

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👃🏼  A sweet nose of blueberries, vanilla spice, blackberry sherbet, and a sweet floral element.

👄  The palate is rich and ripe, but not overly heavy. There are waves of blue fruit – mostly blueberries and ripe sugar plum notes, and these push through into the tail, where they are joined by hints of liquorice. There is a touch of juicy black cherry acidity, which keeps things lively, and the tannins are fairly plush, even though the wine is still fairly young.

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🔬 Wine of Origin Swartland. Sourced from vines planted in 1971, in decomposed granite soils in the Paardeberg. Grapes were fermented in traditional Portuguese style Lagares, with fairly gentle pigeage (punch downs) before being racked into large format French oak to go through Malolactic Conversion. Wine was matured for a further 18 months in a combination of 500l and 225l oak barrels.