Wildflower Hanepoot Jeripigo by Darling Cellars

£11.99

£15.99 per litre · incl. 20% VAT

In Stock

Pour yourself a glass of liquid sunshine. This fortified Hanepoot from Darling Cellars is South Africa's answer to a sweet, soul-warming dessert wine: fragrant Muscat, honeysuckle and ripe yellow peach, all held in check by a lively streak of acidity. Serve it chilled on a warm afternoon or sip it slowly when the evenings turn cold. A small, lovely indulgence.

Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.

Region

Western Cape, South Africa

Grape

100% Hanepoot

UK wide delivery

Expert curated

Sourced direct

Our Verdict

We have a soft spot for Hanepoot, and this is one of the most charming examples we have tasted. What wins us over is the balance: plenty of honeyed, peachy sweetness, but with enough zip to keep you coming back for another sip rather than feeling overwhelmed. It is perfect for anyone who thinks they do not like sweet wine, and for homesick South Africans it is pure nostalgia. We only have a few bottles left, so if a properly good dessert wine appeals, do not wait too long on this one.

Tasting Notes

Pour a glass and the Muscat aromatics arrive first: honeysuckle, orange blossom and a heady floral lift that tells you this is going to be sweet. The palate delivers, all luscious citrus and ripe yellow peach, thick with honeyed sweetness yet never cloying. That balance is the trick. A seam of bright, lively acidity cuts straight through the richness, keeping everything fresh and carrying a long, fruity, faintly grapey finish. Spirit-fortified and unashamedly indulgent, but poised.

About This Wine

Here is a wine that turns an ordinary evening into something to savour. Hanepoot is South Africa's own name for Muscat of Alexandria, one of the oldest and most aromatic grapes on earth, and Darling Cellars coaxes every drop of perfume from it. The result is a fortified dessert wine that smells like a Cape summer: honeysuckle, ripe yellow peach and a generous lift of citrus that fills the glass before you even take a sip. The sweetness is real and unashamed, but it never cloys. There is a bright thread of acidity running through the centre that keeps everything fresh and leaves a long, fruity finish. That balance comes from Darling's cool West Coast vineyards, where Atlantic breezes and morning sea fogs slow the ripening and help the grapes hold their freshness while the sugars build. Drink it well chilled on a warm afternoon, or let it warm you on a cold winter's night. It is glorious on its own as a dessert in a glass, and it has the sweetness and aromatic punch to stand up to a spicy curry. We deliver across the UK, and a bottle this characterful makes a thoughtful gift for anyone who loves a sweet wine or misses a taste of the Cape.

Food Pairing

Honestly, it shines all on its own as a dessert in a glass, served well chilled at the end of a meal. But it loves a challenge too. Pour it alongside a fragrant, spicy curry and the sweetness tames the heat beautifully. It also flatters a wedge of blue cheese, a fruit tart, or simply a bowl of fresh peaches and cream.

—Served chilled on its own as a dessert wine
—A fragrant, spicy chicken or vegetable curry
—Blue cheese with honey and walnuts
—Peach or apricot tart with cream
—Mature Cheddar and quince paste

How to Serve

Decanting

No need to decant. This is ready to pour straight from the bottle. Just make sure it is properly chilled, as cooler temperatures sharpen the acidity and keep the rich sweetness lively.

Ageing & Cellaring

High sugar and spirit fortification make this remarkably stable, so there is no rush to drink it. It is delicious now, but a well-stored bottle will hold for several years, the fruit slowly deepening towards richer marmalade and dried-apricot notes.

The Land

These vines grow in weathered granite soils as bush vines, trained low and left entirely unirrigated. With no watering to lean on, the roots reach down for moisture, and the cool Atlantic, barely 11km west, lends its hand through sea breezes and the chilly Benguela Current. The grapes ripen slowly to rich, fragrant concentration while holding on to their freshness.

The Winemaking

Making a Hanepoot this good takes patience. After destalking and crushing, the juice spends a full day on its skins at a cool seven degrees, gentle pump-overs coaxing out every drop of that heady Muscat perfume. Then it is drained, settled, and fortified with wine spirit at just the right moment, locking in around 181 grams of natural sugar. The result sits near 17% alcohol, but lively acidity keeps it bright rather than cloying, giving that long, fruity finish.

The Western Cape Region

Le Domaine draws its fruit from vineyards scattered across the Western Cape, from coastal sites cooled by Atlantic breezes to warmer inland slopes, all planted between 50 and 300 metres above sea level. This broad sourcing is deliberate. By blending components from different microclimates, the cellar builds a consistent house style that balances the crisp acidity of cooler sites with the ripe generosity of warmer ones. It's the Western Cape's extraordinary diversity captured in a single glass.

About the Producer

Darling Cellars

Darling Cellars sits on the Cape West Coast, about seventy-five kilometres north of Cape Town, in a landscape that was dairy country long before anyone thought to plant vines. Founded in the mid-nineties as a privately owned cellar, it's run by a cooperative of around twenty shareholders farming roughly 1,300 hectares, a community venture in the truest sense. Nearly all their vineyards are unirrigated, with bush vines doing what they've always done: pushing roots deep into decomposed granite to find their own water. It's dry farming in its purest form, and it gives the wines a concentration and honesty that you simply can't manufacture. Under the direction of red wine specialist Pieter-Niel Rossouw, the cellar has built a quiet reputation for wines that overdeliver at every price point, genuine, terroir-driven, and refreshingly unpretentious.

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