“Wine is made in the vineyard” - Craig Lardner, Proprietor Horse Mountain Wines
Horse Mountain Wines embody a new spirit of adventure in winemaking in the Cape; a fresh, entrepreneurial
approach unfettered by conventional tradition but rooted in the tried and tested philosophy that wine is “made in the
vineyard” says owner Craig Lardner.
Horse Mountain wines are big, full of fruit, with ripe tannins balanced by generous wood extract, made in
unabashedly “New World” style designed for broad, but discerning market appeal. Standing alongside the flagship
Bordeaux-inspired “Michele”, (named after the owner’s firstborn daughter), are a Shiraz and a Pinotage. These are the
premium wines in the Horse Mountain brand.
Supporting these three fine wines is the second tier Quagga Ridge range, a trio of everyday lifestyle wines. These
comprise a wood influenced red blend of Merlot &Cabernet, a white blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, and a
true dry rose’ made from free runoff of Merlot and Pinotage.
>> Click here for full tasting notes
With wine maker, Charles Stassen’s hands-on style, it fits perfectly with the culture and philosophy of the team.
Charles is responsible for all the wines produced at Horse Mountain Wines.
In 1701 it was noted that approximately 300 “wilde paarden” (wild zebras/Quaggas) were sighted near Paarl where
they freely roamed the countryside known today as Paardeberg (Horse Mountain). It is in this spirit that we named
our wine after the place where the wild horses once roamed free.
Horse Mountain Wines are also a part of the Quagga Project; a project that is an attempt by a group of dedicated
people in South Africa to bring back an animal from extinction and reintroduce it to reserves in its former habitat.
Horse Mountain Wines are donating funds to the Quagga Project for every bottle of their Quagga Ridge wine sold.
The animals can be viewed on the game enclosure on the farm. To find out more about this initiative, visit
www.quaggaproject.org
