Ex Animo Wine Co‪.‬ Ex Animo Wine Co.

Welcome to the Ex Animo Wine Co Podcast: a series of interviews and discussions with winemakers and great minds from the world of wine.

In this episode, David Clarke chats with the powerhouse couple of South African Cap Classiques: Ann and Pieter Ferreira. The pair have been at the forefront of fine sparkling wine, and their knowledge and understanding of the style is unparalleled.

*A video version of this interview is available on YouTube*

Welcome to the Ex Animo Wine Co Podcast: a series of interviews and discussions with winemakers and great minds from the world of wine.

In this episode, David Clarke chats with Ex Animo producers across the Western Cape to check how their harvests are progressing. This podcast was recorded in February 2024.

Welcome to the Ex Animo Wine Co Podcast: a series of interviews and discussions with winemakers and great minds from the world of wine.

In this episode, David Clarke chats with Winemag.co.za Editor and Wine Reviewer, Christian Eedes. This is the third annual Wine SONA (State of the Nation) discussion.

In it, David poses questions to Christian about the state of SA wine in 2024, such as:
What was the most surprising in the world of SA wine in 2023
What is Christian most looking forward to in 2024
What were Christian's 'finds' of 2023
What changed in 2023
Christian's current take on 2020, 2021 and 2022 vintages
What varieties or regions had a good year in 2023 (and who didn't
*A video version of this interview is available on YouTube*

*A video version of this interview is available on YouTube*

Welcome to the Ex Animo Wine Co Podcast: a series of interviews and discussions with winemakers and great minds from the world of wine.

In this episode, David Clarke brings together four winemakers from the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley who specialise in Pinot Noir. The microclimate of the valley makes this one of the finest sites in South Africa to grow Pinot Noir - producing globally recognised wines of excellence.

David and the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde crew chat about what makes the valley unique, why Pinot Noir does so well here and how the oceans and soils play such an important role. A fascinating deep-dive into Pinot Noir in a South African context, as told by the people who have worked these vines for decades.

David speaks with:
Craig Wessels of Restless River
Johannes Storm of Storm Wines
Nadia Newton Johnson of Hearth Wines
Gordon Newton Johnson of Newton-Johnson Family Wines

More information on the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley can be found at https://www.hemelenaardewines.com/

*A video version of this interview is available on YouTube*

Welcome to the Ex Animo Wine Co Podcast: a series of interviews and discussions with winemakers and great minds from the world of wine.

In this episode, David Clarke talks with Craig Hawkins of the groundbreaking natural wine label TESTALONGA. Loved for his relaxed approach to wine making, Craig is one of THE names in natural wine in South Africa, if not in the New World.

Craig talks about his journey into winemaking, discovering natural wines for the first time, how he experimented with different methods and what he’s learnt along the way.

Craig and David taste the full range of TESTALONGA wines (spoiler: it’s a lot!). This is a rare look at a hard-to-find collection of wines, tasted and described by the winemaker himself.

Tickets to Wine SONA 2023: https://www.exanimo.co.za/product/wine-sona-2023-with-christian-eedes-one-ticket/

Today on the podcast we have updates from the winemakers we work with about harvest 2023.

Early signs look really great for '23 as a vintage. John Seccombe was clearly having a bad day -

Was great to hear Koen in his element after all the drama he had late last year.

Some Pinot Blanc being harvested for the first time is exciting for one of the producers.

And some haven't even started yet! :)

Cheers, David from Ex Animo.