The 2025 harvest – a Watershed
We are excitedly reflecting on a very different vintage with the last grapes of the 2025 harvest safely in the cellar.
Before 2020, we made wine in the same cellar for nine vintages, but the post-COVID period has been disruptive. When that cellar closed, we struggled to find a single location suitable for our wine and had to harvest grapes at three other cellars simultaneously for a few years before renting our own space for the 2023 and 2024 harvests—a move that proved uneconomical and didn’t work for us.
The new partnership with Jordan has created the vista for an incredible wine future for Painted Wolf Wines. For the first time in 21 harvests, we have access to a fully equipped modern cellar and, with it, a committed professional winemaking team. We have worked closely with Sjaak Nelson, Jordan’s winemaker, to maintain broad continuity of the Painted Wolf style for the 2025 vintage, but he has also brought his experience and obsessive attention to detail to bear on our grapes. The brand-new wines are looking better than ever.
Painted Wolf continues to focus on South African favorites—Chenin Blanc, Pinotage, and drought-tolerant Mediterranean varietals—all sourced from the same growers we have worked with for years.
First in the cellar, on January 23rd, was Wellington Pinotage—dark, juicy grapes with amazing flavor. Over the following six weeks, grapes arrived at the cellar at regular intervals: Grenache, Carignan, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, more Pinotage, Mourvèdre, and Syrah. Then, on March 4th, the last grapes—our wonderful high-elevation Breedekloof Pinotage—came in. We are one of the first and the last wineries to harvest Pinotage.
The quality is fantastic—a huge improvement on the 2024 vintage, which was blighted by rain during harvest.
This is just the beginning of this new journey, one that will lift the Painted Wolf game across the board. We look forward to sharing our new wines with you in the future!
AI is revolutionizing African Wild Dog conservation by enabling rapid, accurate identification of individuals. Since 1990, the EWT and SANParks have conducted photographic censuses in Kruger National Park, using unique coat patterns—like human fingerprints—to distinguish individuals. Now, AI-powered computer vision scans thousands of visitor-submitted photos in minutes, identifying known and new individuals. This technology helps track population trends, monitor health, and inform conservation strategies from a high of 400 dogs in 1995 to 120 in 2009 and 420 in 2024, including 187 pups. AI-driven insights ensure timely interventions for species survival.
Your photos + AI = Real Conservation!
Your photo could be of an individual researchers haven’t seen before or haven’t seen in that area. Submit your photos and assist with conservation. PWW has proudly sponsored wines as prizes for this initiative. Look out for our wines in the KNP shops.
We are excited to share that Painted Wolf Wines has been recognized as a key sustainability partner for this year’s Africa Travel Week in Cape Town from the 6th to the 11th of April. As we prepare to showcase our commitment to sustainability and conservation through wine, we look forward to connecting with like-minded individuals and organizations at this prestigious event.
In addition to this, we are thrilled to announce a special collaboration with talented artist Leandri Erlank. Leandri has created a stunning series of artworks that reflect the beauty and urgency of African wild dog conservation. These unique pieces will kick off a powerful donation campaign in support of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).
Through this collaboration, we hope to raise awareness and much-needed funds for the EWT’s crucial work, all while celebrating the intersection of art, nature, and conservation.
Join us for an engaging online conversation with Dr. Peter Apps, a renowned zoologist and analytical chemist, currently the Senior Researcher of Wild Entrust Botswana Predator Conservation’s BioBoundary project, based in Maun, Botswana.
Dr. Apps specialises in how predators communicate through chemical signals. The BioBoundary project is using the results to develop minimally invasive, ecologically benign, and economically sustainable conservation tools to keep predators inside protected areas, away from livestock, and safe from lethal control.
Alongside him, winemaker Jeremy Borg will share details about our award-winning Lycaon Old Vine Chenin Blanc, crafted from heritage grapes sourced from the Welgegund Vineyard in Wellington, Paarl.
Thursday, March 27th
7 PM SAST
Pour a glass of Painted Wolf and join us for this captivating discussion!
We look forward to ‘seeing’ you there.
