Rugged Rocks wine is made here on our family farm, from grapes grown in our own small vineyard in the northern Cederberg.
We have been making wine at Alpha Excelsior since 2004, in small batches and with a hands-on approach. Our grapes are hand-picked and fermented naturally using wild yeasts, with no commercial yeast added.
In the cellar, we keep things simple. Our wines are matured in oak, made with minimal sulphur, and are neither cold stabilised nor filtered. A little natural sediment may remain in the bottle.
We grow Shiraz, Pinotage and Cabernet Sauvignon, allowing each vintage and vineyard to express itself rather than trying to force the wines into a particular style.
For us, Rugged Rocks is simply about making small quantities of honest wine from the place we live and farm.
We planted our first olive trees in 2006 and today grow 6.5 hectares of Mission and Frantoio olives here on the farm.
Our olives are hand-picked and processed in small batches. The Mission olives are brined and bottled on the farm as table olives, while our Frantoio olives are pressed in our own olive press to make extra virgin olive oil.
Keeping the process on the farm means we stay closely involved from picking through to the finished product. The result is a small-batch olive oil with the fresh, peppery character we enjoy, and simple table olives made in the traditional way.
