The Bowline

This complex wine will add a touch of elegance to any occasion. Pair it with creamy carbonara or alfredo pasta or caramelised onion and brie on crispy puff pastry. Keep it easy with grilled sole with lemon butter or allow the chef to come to the fore with a slow-cooked coq au vin blanc – replacing the traditional red wine with white wine.

After fermentation, both cultivars are matured on their fine lees for 5 months and then blended together; 61% Sauvignon Blanc and 39% Semillon.

Hand-harvested in the early morning at 22.5–23.5 °B and vinified separately, the winemaking process is done in reductive conditions using dry ice and carbon dioxide gas. Grapes are crushed at 8 °C with two to four hours of skin contact before a light pressing. Juice settling is followed by the Sauvignon being racked to stainless steel tanks and the Semillon to 4th fill 400l French oak barrels.

Winemaker David Nieuwoudt created the Ghost Corner brand in 2007, initially starting off with a Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc and adding three new wines in 2012: The Bowline, a Sauvignon blanc and Semillon blend; Ghost Corner Pinot Noir; and Wild Ferment Sauvignon Blanc, a Sauvignon blanc naturally fermented in older barrels. Every year David selects a small quantity of grapes from vineyards in the Elim ward near Cape Agulhas on the southernmost tip of Africa. Ghost Corner takes its name from this treacherous coastline where more than 130 ships have been shipwrecked through the ages. The deep lime-rich soil with plentiful slate and gravel deposits in Elim’s maritime climate gives rise to exceptional white wines.