Sommeliers Choice Awards 2024 Winners
The Astronomy Wine Company
Category: Winery
Country: South Africa
Date:25/09/2015
Paul and I started this business long before we were heroes. In fact, we weren’t famous at all. We were two regular men who wanted to change the world. We both lived in small rooms without internet connection – but we had big windows. I had locked myself out, and attempted the Spiderman-route to the third floor. On the way up I passed Paul’s room. He was standing on one hand in total silence. Undoubtedly impressed, I invited him for a glass of Pinot Noir, if and when I managed to get back into my room. We became good friends. In February 2015 I started with my MA in History, focusing on the history of wine. I shared a lot of this research with Paul, who often helped with the more in-depth research, such as tasting a wide array of wines, and later even making some of our own. With his impending degrees in both accounting and law the buying and drinking of wine would inevitably become a business. With the help of possibly the most beautiful wine maker in the Western Cape, family wine farmers and an old man who didn’t mind opening the cellar at 11:30 p.m., we created our first Shiraz-blend: Living in Small Spaces. Other varietals under this brand will also be available soon. We have gone on to develop other trademarks, such as Water by Jesus, Astronomy and The Nougat-Press. We believe our brands bear the badges on our sleeves: celebrating life in smaller spaces, ceaselessly working towards visions of a life filled with breath like the lungs of a little boy sprinting. Our wines are crafted with this same ambition, hand-made, hand-bottled, hand-labelled and carried around by good friends in our cellar.