Whole Berry has been sold out for a little over a month and during that time we have been through the full  5 stages of grief.

At first, there was shock and denial – how could we be sold out? How did this happen? Surely there was a pallet or two tucked away somewhere?! But alas – the Whole Berry was sold out, earlier than it had been for years.

Then, the second stage – anger. We were threatened with losing listings, losing business. We were angry with our guy in the warehouse – could he not have counted better!? We were angry with our exports manager for selling a pallet to our British agent 6 months earlier. Worst of all, we were angry with ourselves for drinking too much Whole Berry at a braai the previous weekend – those three bottles could have kept a restaurant going for one more night.

Then we started bargaining. It wasn’t pretty. The few cases we had left in our warehouses were hotly contested. Everyone had a customer who desperately needed just one more case. We were inundated with requests from our reps for bigger allocations. Big orders were dangled like carrots, ready to be confirmed IF ONLY we could add a case or two of Whole Berry to the invoice.

The fourth stage – depression – hit us hard. All of a sudden, Whole Berry was the perfect wine that every customer was looking for, yet we had nothing to offer. Tastings in our tasting room felt too short, our red wine offering felt too sparse. Life without Whole Berry was just not worth living.

Finally, the depression turned to acceptance. We learned to live without Whole Berry in our lives. We found alternatives – Work of Time, Thunderchild, the 1997 Methode Ancienne in a pinch. We accepted that the Whole Berry would be back again someday – and we are so happy to share that that someday, is today.

Officially launching on the 1st of December, orders for Whole Berry are now open and will be supplied as of Monday 3 December. It will be available in our tasting room tomorrow, the 1st – we will be open from 9am-3pm.

The 2017 vintage is full of juicy fruit – red plums, cherries and black berries, with notes of earth, cedar and tobacco to round it off. Tannins are velvety smooth and leave you with a mouthwatering finish. Fermented with natural yeasts, and uncrushed, unpressed grapes, this vintage of Whole Berry is one of our favourite ones yet. 

If there are any questions, please let us know – we hope that this brightens your day as much as it brightened ours!