Marras Piekenierskloof Grenache

£12.99

£17.32 per litre · incl. 20% VAT

Out of Stock

If you think Grenache means soft and simple, this will change your mind. Grown high in the mountains of Piekenierskloof, it's all bright cherry and wild strawberry, lifted by a fine, savoury minerality you don't expect at this price. Light on its feet, easy to love, and quietly clever. A brilliant introduction to what South African Grenache can really do.

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

Region

Swartland, South Africa

Grape

Grenache

Oak

The fruit enjoys a cold soak for three days to aid extraction and is then partially fermented in old oak barrels for 10 months

UK wide delivery

Expert curated

Sourced direct

Our Verdict

We have a soft spot for Grenache that doesn't shout, and this is a lovely example. What won us over is the balance: there's real perfume and sweet red fruit here, but it's held together by that cool-mountain freshness and savoury edge, the mark of those old Piekenierskloof bush vines. Winemaker Martin Lamprecht has a light, confident touch, and it shows. This is perfect for the drinker who wants something genuinely interesting without spending a fortune, and it's the bottle we'd happily open mid-week or hand to a friend who thinks they've tried everything.

Tasting Notes

Aromas of ripe red cherry and wild strawberry lift from the glass, fresh and inviting rather than jammy. The palate follows through with the same bright fruit, round and supple, the tannins fine enough to stay out of the way. There is a thread of stony minerality running underneath, a signature of those high mountain soils, and it carries the finish long and clean. This is Grenache built for drinking pleasure: perfumed, juicy and quietly serious.

About This Wine

Here's a wine that rewards the curious. Most people reach for the usual reds without a second thought, but pour this and you'll be tasting something with a real sense of place: South African Grenache from old dryland bush vines clinging to a mountain plateau most drinkers have never heard of. Piekenierskloof sits high above the Olifants River, around 650 metres up, where warm days and cool nights let the fruit ripen slowly and evenly. The result is gorgeous: ripe cherry and wild strawberry on the nose, a palate that's bright and round rather than heavy, and a fine, almost stony minerality on the finish that keeps you coming back to the glass. The craft is gentle and deliberate. Grapes are handpicked, given a three-day cold soak to coax out colour and perfume, then partially fermented and rested in old oak barrels for ten months. Old oak, not new, so the fruit stays centre stage and the texture turns silky without any heavy vanilla. This is a wine for easy occasions. Try it with herb-roasted chicken, a charcuterie board, or a mushroom risotto on a cool British evening. It also makes a thoughtful gift for anyone who loves discovering small producers. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK.

Food Pairing

This is a wine that loves the table. Its bright fruit and gentle tannins make it a natural with a herb-roasted chicken and crisp potatoes, or a Sunday plate of slow-cooked pork shoulder. The savoury minerality handles charcuterie and a wedge of nutty Comté with ease, and it has just enough freshness to sit happily beside a tomato-rich vegetable bake on a midweek evening.

—Herb-roasted chicken with crisp roast potatoes
—Slow-cooked pork shoulder with apple
—A charcuterie and cured meat board
—Grilled lamb chops with rosemary
—Mushroom and tomato vegetable bake

Behind the Wine

Up in Piekenierskloof, the vines work for a living. Perched on a plateau around 650 to 700 metres, they bake under warm days and cool down sharply at night, a rhythm that lets Grenache ripen slowly and evenly. The dryland bush vines get no irrigation, rooting deep into mineral-poor soils with just enough water to survive. That struggle is the point. Low yields and big day-to-night swings concentrate flavour while holding onto freshness, which is why this Grenache tastes both ripe and bright, with that fine thread of minerality running through it.

The Land

These are dryland bush vines, low-trained and farmed without irrigation, sending roots deep into a lean layer of sandstone and granite-derived soils. There is barely enough water to ripen a crop, which naturally curbs yields and concentrates everything good. That mineral-poor, well-drained ground is exactly what gives this Grenache its lower pH, its fine grip and that distinctive stony minerality on the finish.

The Winemaking

This is gentle, hands-off winemaking that lets the fruit speak. The grapes are picked by hand, then destemmed and crushed first thing the next morning to lock in freshness before the day warms up. A three-day cold soak draws out colour and perfume without harshness, and the wine is then partly fermented and aged in old oak barrels for ten months. Seasoned barrels rather than new ones is a deliberate choice: no vanilla, no heavy spice, just a soft frame that rounds the wine while keeping that ripe cherry and wild strawberry fruit front and centre.

The Swartland Region

Swartland, 'the black land' in Afrikaans, named for the renosterbos that darkens after rain, rolls out north of Cape Town across the hills around Malmesbury and Riebeek-Kasteel. It's hot, dry, and stubbornly characterful: a place of old bush vines, granite and koffieklip soils, and a community of growers who've made it the most quietly thrilling corner of South African wine. Concentration, freshness, and a wild streak you don't find elsewhere, that's Swartland in a glass.

About the Producer

Marras

Marras is the project of Martin Lamprecht, a young winemaker with a CV that punches above his years. He cut his teeth at Cederberg under David Nieuwoudt, then took a detour through the Rhone before setting up shop in the Swartland, the region where South Africa's most curious winemakers go to experiment. Martin sources from old parcels on the Paardeberg and the elevated slopes of Piekenierskloof, coaxing out site-specific character with minimal intervention. He describes his job as taking the grapes by the hand and guiding them where they want to go. It sounds modest, but the wines are anything but. Marras is small, sharp, and very much one to watch.

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