The Swartland wine growing district in the western Cape is a short drive north of Cape Town that has attracted many young winemakers with its high proportion of old vines and its community of natural wine producers. This was the case with Charles Brain and Walker Brown, two then-recently graduated community development and political science majors from America. They founded Lubanzi in 2016 after a magical hiking trip in the country where they were befriended by a wild dog that became the winery’s namesake. With family connections to the wine business, they weren’t new to wine, and were convinced that South African wine had enormous untapped potential. Marrying that potential with the principles of social entrepreneurship they had studied supplied the passion necessary to hunt down the right vineyards and partners in South Africa. The winery holds numerous certifications that attest to their community-building sincerity: 1% For The Planet, Certified B Corporation, Fair for Life Fair Trade, Climate Neutral, and they give 50% of their net profits to the Pebbles Project, a Non-Profit that works with the low-income families who live and work on South Africa's wine farms. All this is well and great, but what about the wine? Cinsault (SAN-so) is a southern French grape that is primarily used there as a blending grape in rosé, but was once the most planted red grape in South Africa due primarily to its ability to yield generously. With the SA wine industry’s now decades-old focus on quality, only the best vineyards were allowed to remain and here, as in other parts of the world that have well-farmed old Cinsault vines, it is seeing a resurgence due to the grape’s ability to produce light-bodied, fruity and floral wines that match the world’s growing taste for lighter and chillable reds. Flavors of cherry, red and black berries, violets, fresh turned earth and subtle spice that make this lovely on its own or with intensely flavored and/or spicy food such as Vietnamese-style sauteed ground pork. Maybe give this a good hour in the fridge first before you twist off the cork and enjoy!