The Story
After releasing our first Collectible Vintage wine, the 2022 Chenin Blanc Oniv, we did what any sensible wine people would do: immediately start plotting the next one.
I already had a list of winemakers I desperately wanted to rope into future Collectible Vintage cuvées, and Duncan Savage was right near the top.
Duncan’s wines hardly need an introduction. His reputation as one of South Africa’s pioneering winemakers is thoroughly deserved. He is also, rather annoyingly, one of those people who seems to make everything look effortlessly cool. Great wines, great reputation, universally liked by his peers.
It made him an obvious choice.
The wine in mind, A Bordeaux-style white blend, and given Duncan’s history at Cape Point Vineyards, where Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon were very much part of his calling card, it seemed almost rude not to ask him. After all, anyone familiar with Isliedh will understand the logic.
I’d known Duncan for years, going all the way back to my early days as a sommelier at The Saxon Hotel in Johannesburg, so on 4 April 2023 I sent him a message outlining the idea.
To my delight, he said yes.
Once Duncan was on board, I asked the obvious next question:
“Who else should we get involved?”
There was barely a pause before he suggested Miles Mossop.
Given the pedigree of Miles’s wines, my response was essentially the winemaking equivalent of, “Well, obviously.”
And just like that, the team was taking shape.
On 7 September 2023, the Collectible Vintage team headed to Duncan’s cellar in Salt River, Cape Town, where we spent the day tasting, debating, blending and generally pretending that drinking Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon was very serious work.
The result of that session became Surin.
The wine was bottled at Savage Wines Cellars in January 2024, with just over 1,000 bottles produced, enough to share, but not quite enough to be careless with.
A uniquely Collectible Vintage take on the classic Sauvignon Blanc–Semillon partnership, created with serious winemaking pedigree.
The Final Blend
Chemical Analysis
The day we blended it
Savage Wines · Miles Mossop Wines
The Producers
Savage Wines · Salt River, Cape Town
Duncan Savage
Duncan Savage is one of the leading figures in South Africa’s modern winemaking landscape, celebrated for wines of precision, restraint and a compelling sense of place. After studying viticulture and oenology at Elsenburg, he spent 14 years as winemaker at Cape Point Vineyards, where he developed an intimate understanding of coastal vineyards and established a reputation for producing mineral-driven white wines with remarkable freshness and ageing potential.
In 2011, Duncan began producing wines under his own name alongside his role at Cape Point. What started as a small independent project quickly earned significant critical recognition, allowing him to devote himself fully to Savage Wines in 2016. Today, the wines are made at his urban winery in Salt River, Cape Town, an unconventional setting that reflects Duncan’s independent and quietly pioneering approach.
Rather than working from a single estate, Duncan searches across the Western Cape for exceptional vineyards, leasing selected sites or developing long-term relationships with growers. He is particularly drawn to older vines, granitic soils and vineyards exposed to cooling maritime influences. These often remote or overlooked parcels provide fruit with natural freshness, concentration and individuality, allowing each wine to express the character of its variety and origin.
“To capture the identity of remarkable Cape vineyards and translate them into wines of elegance, authenticity and enduring character.”
Duncan’s winemaking is thoughtful and deliberately unobtrusive. Fermentations are generally spontaneous, while whole bunches, older oak vessels and clay amphorae are employed where they enhance rather than dominate the wine. His approach favours earlier harvesting, gentle extraction and minimal manipulation, producing wines defined by purity, fine texture and energy instead of excessive ripeness or power.
Although Savage Wines first became known for distinctive maritime-influenced white blends, the range now encompasses expressive examples of Syrah, Cinsault and other Mediterranean varieties. Across every bottling, Duncan’s objective remains consistent: to capture the identity of remarkable Cape vineyards and translate them into wines of elegance, authenticity and enduring character.
Elsenburg trained · Est. 2011 · Salt River urban winery · Maritime & granite
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Miles Mossop Wines · Stellenbosch & Swartland
Miles Mossop
Miles Mossop is one of South Africa’s most accomplished contemporary winemakers, known for producing distinctive, site-driven wines with depth, refinement and an unmistakable sense of place. His career began at Tokara in Stellenbosch, where he joined for the estate’s first harvest in 2000 and remained as winemaker until 2018. During this time, he also gained international experience in Condrieu in France’s Northern Rhône and at Planeta in Sicily. A member of the Cape Winemakers Guild since 2012, Miles has served both as vice-chairman and chairman of the organisation.
Miles established Miles Mossop Wines in 2004 while continuing his role at Tokara. Initially a small, independent project, the label allowed him to explore exceptional vineyards and create wines that reflected his own ideas and personality. In 2018, he left Tokara to focus entirely on the family-owned business, developing a portfolio built around carefully selected parcels from Stellenbosch, the Swartland and other distinguished areas of the Western Cape.
“Source grapes from exceptional vineyards, harvest them at precisely the right moment and gently guide the fruit through the natural winemaking process.”
Without being tied to a single estate, Miles has the freedom to seek out vineyards best suited to each wine. He is particularly drawn to mature, low-yielding vines, poorer soils and sites capable of producing fruit with natural concentration, freshness and individuality. His philosophy is straightforward: source grapes from exceptional vineyards, harvest them at precisely the right moment and gently guide the fruit through the natural winemaking process. The objective is not to impose a predetermined style, but to preserve the character of the vineyard and vintage.
The portfolio ranges from expressive regional blends to extremely limited single-vineyard bottlings. The Family collection includes the wines that first established the Miles Mossop name, while The Chapters explores individual varieties and distinctive vineyard parcels in greater detail. These small-production wines are selected according to soil, vine age, climate and location, with restrained cellar work used to allow each site to speak clearly.
Across the range, the wines combine generosity and concentration with freshness, structure and fine detail. Whether working with old-vine Chenin Blanc from the granite soils of the Swartland or Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch, Miles produces thoughtful, age-worthy wines that express both the diversity of the Cape and his deeply personal approach to winemaking.
Tokara 2000–2018 · Est. 2004 · Cape Winemakers Guild · Stellenbosch & Swartland
