Your Preferences

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The fastest way for us to help you find the wines you'll love (and avoid the wines you won't ) is for you to spend 30 seconds to tell us about your wine tastes. We use these answers, together with your wine ratings to build a detailed profile of your personal tastes. We match your taste profile to our wines taste profile to find the wines that match. Even if it's a grape you don't know, from a place you don't know, made by a person you have never heard of. For example, if you tell us that you like Rioja, we have an Argentinean Malbec that you will adore. And a Spanish Grenache that will blow your socks off.

I prefer

I usually spend about:

£

£

I buy about bottles a week

Red wine preferences

Do you like? Rating (rollover the stars to rate)
Big, full bodied red wines? The kind of wine that goes with a rich meaty stew? E.g. Aussie Shiraz.
Elegant restrained reds...e.g. Bordeaux and Burgundy.
Rioja? Warm, oaky mellow wines, great for sharing around a roaring fire?
Soft, fruity, juicy easy drinking reds. e.g. Chilean Merlot, or a Cote du Rhone?

White wine preferences

Do you like? Rating (rollover the stars to rate)
New Zealand Sauvignons and other fruity, refreshingly zingy whites?
Oaky, mellow fruity wines? Australian Chardonnay for example?
Fruity but DRY whites, perfect for an aperitif
Bone dry classics like Chablis?

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Your Browsing History

The Naked Facts
  • Young South African Winemaker of the Year, 2006
  • 4.5* rating in The Platter and Wine Magazine 2008
  • Awarded an outstanding 5 stars in John Platter's recently published 2009 South African Wine Guide

The Vet

created on 22/04/2009

Johan Kruger Subscribe to Johan Kruger's RSS Feed

South African producer who makes 5 star wines!

Popularity

22

180 Ratings 4 Stars
Johan Kruger

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Francesca Jacklin

Hi Johan, we're holding a tasting of NWs South African wines in January for our village wine club (about 45 people). We should be tasting about 9 different wines fromn the site and I can't wait to introduce them to some of the great new wines we've discovered. I'm looking forward to trying your Astra Red it sounds very interesting.
Best Regards
Francesca

by Francesca 05/11/2009 21:46

Reply
Johan  Kruger


Thanks you for all the wonderfull comments on the Chardonnay, Caroline, I`m sending you a replacement bottle, please try the wine again, I`m sure you`ll love it. For the rest of you, hope you`re going to enjoy the rest of our range coming soon.

Thank you for your support, I`ll be sending some samples out soon for you to try!!

by Johan 13/05/2009 07:57

Reply
Pete Drewienkiewicz

Hi Johan it was great to meet you last week at Sterhuis, just placed an order for a case of the Astra 2007, will be back for some more of that and the Chardonnay very soon I am sure. Is there any reason that Naked Wines don't have the Chenin Blanc at the moment or is that just because you're about to have the 2009 out?

by Pete 17/12/2009 14:23

Reply
Julian Stone

Hi Johan,
Thanks for your hospitality last Monday. It was really great to meet you and taste your wines. I’m sorry we didn’t have more time with you as we were truly enjoying our conversation. Good luck with your latest venture, that bottle you gave us was very good and I’m sure it will do well. Back England now but we have many happy memories of our time in the winelands to help us through our cold wet winter.

by Julian 05/12/2009 16:56

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Johan's Story

Johan Kruger

"I do not consider winemaking to be a job, it's a way of life. I feel really fortunate to be involved in this wonderful industry. Oh, and it's great that I don't have to wear a tie, in fact, I don't even own one!

My father bought our farm in 1980, slowly but surely vesting the vineyards on the right sights, I became involved in the farming side in 1998 and once the bug bit me, I could not resist making wine from our amazing grapes. Our first vintage of Chardonnay in bottle was awarded the young wine maker of the year award as well as 4.5 stars in Platter and Wine magazine. Once one gets to work with such an amazing product, there is no turning back. . . .

I absolutely love Burgundy and every aspect of it, so I try and respect the terroir we are given to work with. Further still, I follow a very natural way of winemaking, working gently with the grapes and guiding the grapes ( vineyard ) to the bottle. Our wines also develop very slowly in both barrel and bottle, so this sometimes requires a lot of patience.

I work very closely with my Dad - 28 years working together but it's all been worth it. He's very proud of what we do with the grapes, and neither of us would change what we do for the world.

How would I describe myself? Like a champagne - full of energy and pleasure!"

How green is Johan's vineyard?

"We're as green as we possibly can be and we're definitely non-interventionist. We try to get the vineyard to the barrel and then to the bottle. We do not use any additives in the wine except for a small amount of sulphur just before bottling. I believe that everything one does or adds to the wine takes away from the natural flavour."

Sterhuis Chardonnay 2007
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Sterhuis Chardonnay 2007

Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

  • 4.5 stars in its debut vintage from South Africa's Wine Magazine
  • If you want to drink Burgundy quality and you don't want to pay greedily grasping Burgundy prices, you should give this a go
  • Powerful and rich, but with a balance and elegance that makes Michelle Obama look clumsy
Sterhuis Astra White 2007
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Sterhuis Astra White 2007

Overall Rating: 4 Stars

  • A very unique blend of Sauvignon Blanc (33%) , Chenin Blanc (33%) and Chardonnay (33%), from the best barrels in the Sterhuis cellars
  • A dense, powerful yet elegant wine with an intriguing tangerine citrus complexity and a long spicy, rich finish
  • Only 2500 bottles made so one to savour from the Stellenbosh Winemaker, Johan Kruger
Sterhuis Astra Red 2005
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Sterhuis Astra Red 2005

Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

  • A serious yet very accessible wine. The palate is rich and silky with delicate oaking with a soft seductive finish
  • A barrel selection blend from 5 of the best red wine barrels from the 2005 vintage in the Sterhuis cellars, only 1500 bottles made!
  • A classic Cabernet (60%) Merlot (40%) blend from the classy Johan Kruger
Sterhuis Merlot 2007
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Sterhuis Merlot 2007

Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

  • 100% merlot this is classic in style, serious yet accessible with integrated oak flavours and a silky, soft tannin finish
  • The quality of a high end Bordeaux without the hefty price tag!
  • A velvety soft, fruit-packed Merlot made by a talented and acclaimed Stellenbosch producer