Giant Periwinkle Wine Estate is a boutique triumph, crafting cool-climate wines that capture Baardskeerdersbos’ wild, salty terroir.

Tucked away in the rolling hills of Baardskeerdersbos, a quirky hamlet near Elim in the Cape Agulhas wine district, Giant Periwinkle Wine Estate feels like a secret whispered among wine lovers. Founded by Pierre Rabie, a winemaker with a childhood passion for the craft, and his partners Karen van Helden and Robert Stelzner, Giant Periwinkle is a testament to bold creativity and non-interventionist winemaking. 

This cool coastal Agulhas climate delivers a bracing expression of Sauvignon Blanc that is very hard to replicate in South Africa’s other growing regions.

Harvested at 21 balling, this laser-fest carries 11.8% alcohol, but leaves just over 2g of sugar, to enable the green fruit to express itself against the eye-watering limey brightness. It is tank-fermented using native yeasts until it reaches about 12 balling, after which time it is inoculated with Levuline Alsace yeast. 

Tasting Notes: A delicate nose of lime juice, cut grass, asparagus, chalk, and fynbos.  Acidity is pristine. Fresh lime juice elements, with herbal infusions present upfront, softened by a hint of a gesture of passion fruit notes. Perfect cool climate sav blanc. 

Wind Scorpion is lawyer and winemaker Pierre Rabie's entry-point Sauvignon Blanc and it "screams Cape Agulhas", as he would put it. Sea breeze, oyster shell and elderflower flavours are supported by chiselled acidity and a bone-dry finish. 2024-27. Tim Atkin 90