The Den Sauvignon Blanc

£12.39

£16.52 per litre · incl. 20% VAT

Out of Stock

If you love a Sauvignon Blanc with real zip and personality, this is your kind of bottle. Picture gooseberry and cut grass meeting ripe pineapple and peach, all carried by a bright, refreshing acidity. It is the easy summer white that also happens to support African wild dog conservation. Crisp, lively and seriously good value, delivered across the UK.

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

Region

Swartland, South Africa

Grape

Sauvignon Blanc

Drinking Window

Painted Wolf Wines / UK retail product information

UK wide delivery

Expert curated

Sourced direct

Our Verdict

We have a soft spot for The Den. It does what so many crowd-pleasing Sauvignon Blancs fail to do: it stays genuinely crisp and characterful rather than sliding into anonymous tropical sweetness. That tension between green gooseberry bite and ripe stone fruit is what keeps it interesting glass after glass. This is the bottle we reach for when we want something refreshing without thinking too hard, and it is perfect for anyone who drinks Sauvignon Blanc by the case in summer. The conservation angle makes it an easy gift recommendation too. Stock is limited at the moment, so do not wait too long on this one.

Tasting Notes

A bright, herbaceous nose leads with gooseberry, freshly cut grass and a green fig edge, lifted by pineapple, peach and a squeeze of citrus. The palate is where it earns its keep: vibrant and zippy, with melon and passion fruit carried on a round, almost textured mouthfeel that stops it feeling lean. Invigorating acidity scrubs the palate clean, leaving a crisp, lively finish that keeps you reaching back for the glass. Refreshment with real personality.

About This Wine

Here is a Sauvignon Blanc that knows exactly what it wants to be: fresh, vibrant and impossible to put down. The Den comes from Painted Wolf Wines, a Paarl-based producer working with low-yielding, largely unirrigated vineyards across the Western Cape, including the Swartland and the cool, Atlantic-brushed parcels around Darling. That coastal influence is the secret here. It keeps the acidity singing and the herbaceous fruit pungent and precise. Pour a glass and you get gooseberry, freshly cut grass and a hint of fig, then a wave of tropical pineapple, peach and lemon. The palate is where it really comes alive: zippy and textured, with melon and passion fruit, invigorating acidity and a clean, lively finish that leaves you reaching for the bottle again. This is a wine built for easy pleasure. It is brilliant with light citrussy salads, sushi, a Thai prawn salad or simple grilled fish, and it handles a fresh cheese plate with ease. Just the thing for a sunny afternoon in the garden, or that first proper barbecue when the British summer finally turns up. There is a feel-good story too. Painted Wolf was founded to fund conservation of the endangered African wild dog, so every bottle does a little good. A thoughtful gift for any white wine lover, with UK-wide delivery straight to their door.

Food Pairing

This is a food wine built for fresh, zingy flavours. It cuts beautifully through a goat's cheese and beetroot salad with a sharp vinaigrette, and that herbaceous bite is made for grilled white fish or a plate of fish and chips with plenty of lemon. The tropical edge handles Thai and sushi with ease, while crisp acidity refreshes the palate between bites.

—Goat's cheese and beetroot salad with sharp vinaigrette
—Grilled sea bass or cod with lemon
—Battered fish and chips
—Thai green papaya salad
—Salmon and cucumber sushi

Behind the Wine

Sauvignon Blanc this crisp is all about where it's grown. Cool Atlantic air sweeps in around Darling and the western Swartland, slowing ripening just enough to lock in bright, zippy acidity and that pungent green snap of gooseberry and cut grass. The Borgs favour low-yielding, largely unirrigated parcels, where vines dig deep and fruit stays concentrated rather than diluted. The result in the glass is clarity and lift: tropical fruit up front, herbaceous freshness underneath, never flabby or tired.

Ageing Potential

Drink this young. It is built for freshness, and that zippy acidity and pungent fruit are at their best within about three years of the vintage. There is nothing to gain from cellaring it, so pull the cork while it is bright and lively.

The Land

The fruit draws on cooler-climate parcels around Darling alongside the Swartland's schist and granite soils. These are low-yielding, largely unirrigated vines, forced to work for their living, which keeps the fruit concentrated. The decisive factor is maritime air off the Atlantic, holding back the heat and protecting the wine's nervy, green-fruited freshness.

The Winemaking

The craft here is about protection, not intervention. Grapes are picked at precisely the right moment to catch that balance of tropical generosity and green freshness, then blanketed with CO2 through crushing and pressing to shield the juice from oxygen. That care is why the aromatics arrive so vividly intact: pineapple, peach and citrus alongside fig and gooseberry. There's no heavy oak getting in the way, just a clean, faithful expression of the fruit, finishing crisp, lively and refreshingly direct.

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

Painted Wolf

Painted Wolf takes its name, and its purpose, from one of Africa's most endangered predators: the African wild dog, known to conservationists as the painted wolf. It's an unusual starting point for a wine label, but once you understand the story, it makes perfect sense. Founded in Paarl in 2006 by Emma and Jeremy Borg, this is a producer built on the idea that good wine and good intentions aren't mutually exclusive.

Jeremy learned his craft the hard way, working harvests and cellars across the US, UK and South Africa, including a spell at Fairview just down the road in Paarl. That well-travelled apprenticeship shows in the wines: confident, well-made, and refreshingly free of pretension. The Borgs source their grapes widely across the Cape Winelands, with a particular focus on the Swartland and other Coastal region vineyards, giving them the flexibility to chase quality and character rather than being tied to a single estate.

What sets Painted Wolf apart, though, is the conservation thread running through everything they do. A portion of proceeds supports wild dog conservation and social upliftment projects, and the packageing itself tells that story, each wine a small act of storytelling as much as winemaking. It would be easy for that to feel like a marketing gimmick bolted onto an ordinary wine business. It doesn't. The commitment runs deep, and the wines back it up.

We stock Painted Wolf because they prove that a wine with a conscience doesn't have to compromise on drinkability. The Den range, their most approachable line, is exactly what its name suggests: soft, juicy, unfussy wines built for everyday drinking rather than the cellar. Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinotage and a Pinotage Rosé all wear the Wine of Origin Western Cape or Swartland badge with quiet confidence, and all deliver more character than their easy-drinking style might suggest.

For UK customers curious about South African wine with genuine substance behind the label, Painted Wolf offers a way in that's both delicious and meaningful. It's a bottle you can open on a Tuesday and one you can talk about at a dinner party, which isn't a combination you find often.

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