Testalonga

Craig Hawkins founded Testalonga in 2008 with his wife Carla. The first wine, the El Bandito Skin, was a four-week skin-macerated Chenin Blanc made from a 1972-planted vineyard at Lammershoek in the Paardeberg. The decision to leave a white wine on its skins for four weeks was at the time deeply unfashionable in South Africa, and the resulting orange-style Chenin was, in some quarters, treated as an abomination. The catalyst had been a trip to Italy where Hawkins tasted a skin-macerated Vermentino from Antonio Perrino and decided he had to try the technique on Cape Chenin Blanc. The wine landed at exactly the right moment for the global natural-wine conversation, and Testalonga immediately became a reference point for skin-contact white wines from outside Europe. Production was tiny in the early years and the range slowly expanded to include other single-vineyard expressions of bought-in old-vine fruit. In 2010, Carla's father (who was involved with Lammershoek) asked Craig to take over the winemaking role at the larger estate. Craig agreed on two conditions: he could convert Lammershoek's vineyards to organic farming and he could continue making his own Testalonga wines from bought-in fruit. He held the Lammershoek winemaker role until 2015, when the estate was sold, after which he focused full-time on his own project.

• Founded 2008 by Craig and Carla Hawkins; debut wine El Bandito Skin from a 1972 Lammershoek Chenin vineyard in the Paardeberg
• Four-week skin maceration of Chenin Blanc inspired by Antonio Perrino's skin-macerated Vermentino in Italy
• Craig was Lammershoek's winemaker from 2010 to 2015 in parallel with Testalonga; conditions of the role were organic conversion and freedom to make his own wines
• Established Testalonga as South Africa's pioneering skin-contact white-wine project

In 2014 Craig and Carla Hawkins acquired their own farm, Banditskloof, a 135-hectare property at the foot of the Olifantsberg Mountain in the Swartland. The move marked Testalonga's transition from an itinerant négociant operation based at Lammershoek to a fully estate-based producer with its own cellar, vineyards, and farming control. They moved into the property in 2015 after Craig finished his Lammershoek tenure. Banditskloof's terroir mixes decomposed-granite slopes and weathered shale. Some of the estate is planted to vines, with the remainder reserved for native fynbos and grazing. The Hawkinses farm organically without certification and work biodynamically across the property. The shift to an estate base allowed the range to grow more confidently and gave the Baby Bandito tier the volume base it needed. Alongside estate fruit, El Bandito wines continue to be made from carefully chosen bought-in old-vine parcels elsewhere in the Swartland, where Hawkins has long-standing relationships with growers preserving heritage bush-vine sites.

• Banditskloof farm acquired 2014; 135 hectares at the foot of the Olifantsberg Mountain in the Swartland
• Mix of estate plantings and conserved natural land; organic farming without certification
• Transition from Lammershoek-based négociant model to estate-based producer with own cellar
• El Bandito range continues to source carefully chosen old-vine fruit from elsewhere in the Swartland alongside estate parcels

The El Bandito label is reserved for the top tier of Testalonga wines: single-vineyard or single-block expressions from the best estate plantings and bought-in old-vine fruit. The lineup includes the original El Bandito Skin (skin-macerated Chenin Blanc), El Bandito Cortez (a clean Chenin Blanc from a top old-vine site), and El Bandito Sweet Cheeks (a skin-macerated Hanepoot/Muscat d'Alexandrie from 1952-planted bush vines, left ten days on skins and matured in 500-litre old oak casks). The range expands and contracts year-to-year based on what the harvest delivers. The Baby Bandito tier is the more approachable, more affordable expression of the Testalonga style. The wines are named with phrases used to encourage a child: Keep On Punching (Chenin Blanc), Stay Brave (skin-fermented Chenin), Chin Up (Cinsault), and Follow Your Dreams (Carignan). The pricing makes them an entry point to natural wine and they have been instrumental in broadening Testalonga's reach internationally. The Cortez Cinsault is a separate single-vineyard red built around Hawkins' long-standing belief that South African old-vine Cinsault is the country's most underrated grape. It is fermented whole-bunch, aged in older oak, and bottled with minimal additions.

• El Bandito: top tier reserved for best old-vine and estate fruit (Skin, Cortez, Sweet Cheeks, and rotating single-vineyard releases)
• El Bandito Sweet Cheeks: skin-fermented Hanepoot from 1952-planted bush vines; ten days on skins in 500 L old oak
• Baby Bandito: approachable entry tier (Keep On Punching Chenin, Stay Brave skin-Chenin, Chin Up Cinsault, Follow Your Dreams Carignan)
• Cortez Cinsault: separate single-vineyard old-vine red; Hawkins' bet on Cinsault as South Africa's most undervalued variety

Testalonga's wines are made with rigorous low-intervention discipline. Fermentations are spontaneous on indigenous yeasts. No new oak is used; ageing is in older barrels, foudre, or amphora depending on the wine. Sulfur additions are zero or near-zero, and the wines are released unfined and unfiltered. Craig Hawkins has been clear that natural winemaking, done well, requires more vineyard discipline rather than less. Healthy fruit, careful picking, scrupulous cellar hygiene, and patient extraction underpin the project. The wines are not made by leaving things alone; they are made by intervening only where intervention is required and trusting the rest to the vineyard. The house style across all tiers is energetic, textural, and savoury. Skin-contact whites carry colour, grip, and structure rather than the dirty, oxidative character associated with bad natural wine. Reds are perfumed and elegant rather than dense. The wines have demonstrated that low-intervention winemaking and serious commercial quality are compatible at scale in South Africa.

• Spontaneous fermentation on indigenous yeasts; no new oak; ageing in older barrels, foudre, or amphora
• Zero or near-zero added sulfur; unfined and unfiltered at bottling
• Philosophy: natural winemaking demands more vineyard discipline, not less
• House style: energetic, textural, savoury; skin-contact whites with grip and structure rather than oxidative character

Testalonga is the Cape's most influential natural-wine producer. Before the 2008 El Bandito Skin, skin-contact and orange wines were essentially absent from the South African conversation. Within a decade, every major wine retailer in the country stocked natural wine and a generation of younger Cape winemakers cited Hawkins as a direct influence. For students of South African wine, Testalonga is essential context for three reasons. First, it established South Africa as a serious player in the global natural-wine and orange-wine category, alongside the historical centres in Italy, Georgia, and Slovenia. Second, the project demonstrated that low-intervention winemaking, done with vineyard rigor and cellar discipline, can produce commercially competitive wines at multiple price tiers. Third, Hawkins' advocacy for old-vine Chenin Blanc and Cinsault has reinforced the broader Swartland argument for heritage-site preservation, complementing the work of the Sadie Family, the Mullineuxs, and the Old Vine Project.

• South Africa's pioneering and leading natural-wine producer
• Established the Cape as a serious player in the global natural-wine and orange-wine category
• Demonstrated that low-intervention winemaking can compete commercially at multiple price tiers
• Reinforced the case for old-vine Chenin Blanc and Cinsault preservation alongside the Sadie/Mullineux/Old Vine Project axis