Today's episode is with Johan Meyer (also known as Stompie) from Mother Rock and J.H. Meyer Signature Wines based in the Swartland, South Africa. If you’re privy to the natural wine scene in the Cape, you’ll know these labels without a doubt. I often hear people say that there are three guys that really put natural wine on the map in South Africa and that is Johan Meyer, Jurgen Gouws of Intellego (there’s an episode with him a few back) and Craig Hawkins of Lammershoek and Testalonga.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Stompie got into natural wine, and how it wasn’t always what he did. At the beginning, he was working for a big commercial winery called Sutter Home – you might have heard of it – out in California. After another stint at a smaller winery in New Zealand, plus a transformative experience at Matassa in Southern France – a natural wine project started by Tom Lubbe, a New Zealander who grew up in South Africa South – Stompie returned home determined to do his own thing. He shares how the Swartland Revolution which took place around 2010 helped pave the way for newcomers like himself, and how at that time, there was a huge gap in the market for affordable natural wine made at scale. Enter: Mother Rock Wines. 

That is all part 1 of my conversation with Stompie. In Part 2, we talk more about the wines, including his 'Brutal!' series, which is a natural wine “club” of sorts, to which Stompie was the first South African producer ever invited. You’ll also hear about the new wine of origin appellation that he has established at his high elevation home on the Piketberg Mountain, about two and a half hours north of Cape Town. Plus, stick around for the end of part 2 where you’ll hear why Stompie is called Stompie.

To begin the story, we need to go all the way back to Stompie’s childhood in the Garden Route, where the dominant type of farming was not of grapes, but of cows...

Hosted by Charlotte Alsaadi.

Special thanks to SNACKTIME for the music! 

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