her story
My aunt Anne saved her empty appelstroop tins and stacked them into a tower in her kitchen. Nobody asked her to. She liked how it looked, so it stayed.
natural wine, small plates, art and connection
This is 
My aunt Anne understood the art of connection better than anyone I've known. Now we're opening a natural wine bar on Kloof Street in her name, and a meeting place for art, music, poetry and talks.
That was Anne. She saw beauty in things other people threw away, and in people other people overlooked. She wanted to know what everyone thought, especially the ones who saw the world differently.
She studied Russian, and learned Arabic to talk with her neighbours. She lived in communes, and went to church and to Quran classes to understand both.
My siblings and I spent magical childhood weekends in her little house in Amsterdam, and it was always full. Full of creativity, full of wonder, and full of people who would never have met anywhere else.
Anne loved poetry and music, and she found art in the most ordinary things. She never ranked it. If someone had made something with care, it was worth her full attention.
I think everyone has a bit of Anne in them. The part that is curious about a stranger, and open to an idea that isn't their own.
These days that part of us doesn't get much room. Our feeds and the people we surround ourselves with mostly agree with us, and it's easy to stay in that bubble. We need places where we sit across from someone who doesn't, share the books and songs we love, and try to understand each other.
So I built a place around her spirit, and gave it her name.
A table for people from different worlds, and a stage for the art, music, poetry and stories that sometimes get overlooked.
the wine
Anne died in 2022. She once gave me a little felt bag of cards, each with a wish in her blue ballpoint. I still have it, and our wines are named after them.
What are you wishing for tonight?
Natural wine from small South African makers you won't find on most wine lists, the kind of people Anne would have made space for. There are seven by the glass, each under one of her wishes. They keep changing, so there's something new every time you visit. Tell us your mood, and we'll pour to match, with small plates to go with it.
tap a wish to see what we pourclick a wish to see what we pour
for energy
now pouring
Radford Dale Thirst Clairette Blanche
Clairette is a grape from the south of France that was once popular in Stellenbosch for blending. Now hardly any is left. This comes from a single old vineyard in the Polkadraai Hills, where the gnarled vines grow on one wire, so the bunches ripen in the shade of their own leaves. The grapes are picked by hand and rest on their skins for a few hours before they're pressed and fermented with wild yeast. Radford Dale make their Thirst wines with as little done to them as possible, and it isn't fined or filtered. Lime, lemon zest and a long, salty finish. If you usually drink Sauvignon Blanc, try this.
or with bubbles
Testalonga El Bandito, I Wish I Was a Ninja
Craig and Carla Hawkins farm Bandits Kloof, against the Olifantsberg in the far north of the Swartland, and Craig is one of the pioneers of natural wine in South Africa. This one is Colombard, a grape more often turned into brandy. He bottles it before it has finished fermenting, so the last of the sugar makes its own soft bubbles. Green apple, lemon and a little honey. He calls it lemonade for grown ups.
for pleasure
now pouring
Craven Chardonnay
Mick Craven, from Australia, and Jeanine, who grew up on her family's Stellenbosch farm, met as cellar hands in Sonoma in 2007 and started Craven in 2011. They only buy grapes from organic farmers. This Chardonnay grows in sandy granite in the Polkadraai Hills. Whole bunches are pressed, then fermented with wild yeast in big old barrels, which gives it a silky texture without the taste of oak. Yellow plum, quince, lemon blossom and a salty finish. If you usually drink Chardonnay, start here.
for a story
now pouring
Mother Rock, Liquid Skin
Johan Meyer, known as Stompie, farms organically on Platteklip, a high farm in the Piketberg. Liquid Skin is Chenin Blanc made the way you would make a red. Whole bunches ferment and then rest on their skins and stems for weeks, which turns the wine orange and gives it grip. Nothing is fined or filtered, and Stompie keeps sulphur to a minimum, often none at all. Fynbos, citrus and stone fruit, broad and textured.
for warmth
now pouring
Scions of Sinai Féniks Pinotage
Sinai Hill is a granite hill in the Helderberg, three and a half kilometres from False Bay. Koos and Pieter Bredell planted these Pinotage bush vines there in 1976, and they have never been irrigated. Bernhard Bredell started Scions of Sinai in 2016 to make wine from his family's old vines with as little intervention as possible. Most of the grapes go in as whole bunches, trodden by foot, and the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered. Berry and bramble, with a hint of earth after rain.
for rest
now pouring
Momento Paardeberg Grenache Noir
Marelise Niemann fell for Grenache in 2010, during a harvest with Eben Sadie in Priorat, and her first Momento wine filled just two barrels. The label is a drawing by her husband Hennie of an old vine with people drawn into it. She picks early and ferments with wild yeast, so the wine stays light and fresh, closer to Pinot Noir than to the heavy Grenache you might expect. Red cherry, violets and a little nutmeg. Tim Atkin named her his Young Winemaker of the Year in 2023.
for love
now pouring
Van Loggerenberg Break a Leg Blanc de Noir
Lukas and Roxanne van Loggerenberg started their label in 2016, and two years later Lukas was named Young Winemaker of the Year. This is Cinsault from the Helderberg, fermented with wild yeast and pressed off its skins early, so it stays pale pink. Break a leg is what you wish someone before they go on stage, which suits a wine poured in a room with one. Orange, potpourri, herbs and spice, with a gently savoury finish.
by the bottle
- Swerwer Chenin Blanc
- Thorne & Daughters Tin Soldier
- Intellego, The Pink Moustache
- Natte Valleij Coastal Cinsault
- A.A. Badenhorst Raaigras Grenache
When a wine runs out, the next maker takes its place under the same wish.
connection
Anne cared about genuine connection
So we made a few small things to get people talking.
-
A question on every glass
Every glass comes with a paper disc around the stem, and a question on it. Ask the person you came with, or the one next to you.
-
A wish for whoever sits here next
Write a wish for the next person in your seat, add your handle if you like, and we'll put it around their glass.
-
Pass it on
A wall of books, songs, films, poems, places and things to do, left by the people who sat here before you. Take one, leave one, and ask us for a polaroid to pin up with it.
on stage
A meeting place for art, music, poetry and talks
Anne always managed to bring people together. Some evenings, the stage is open to anyone with something to share.
- Anne Talks. Two people get five minutes each on something they care about, then the whole room joins in. Anyone can sign up.
- Friendly debates. We open the room for a friendly debate between people who disagree, and share a glass afterwards.
- Poetry, readings and songs from anyone who wants to share one, whether it's their first time or their fiftieth.
take part
Want to speak, read, play or perform?
Anne Talks, a debate you'd like to have, a poem, a song or a story. Tell us a little about it. It doesn't have to be perfect.
We hope you leave having met someone new, understood someone a little better, or seen an old friend in a different light. And if not, at least with a really good book, music or art tip.