You may have noticed the rather long-necked star of our homepage promotional banners for May, licking a bottle of the Western Cape’s finest. This is Leila, the adopted giraffe and mascot of Long Neck Wines, from South Africa.

Leila has been hand-raised by zoo staff in the modern East London Zoo on South Africa’s east coast. An infant of a few days old on arrival, she stood a mere 1.6m tall. Today she is nearly seven years old and stands almost 4.5m in height. Leila is very gentle, affectionate and approachable and particularly enjoys being scratched behind her ears.

Now we’re offering you the chance to adopt your own giraffe in our June contest! This is Leila’s little brother Curious and we’re desperately seeking a good home for him. He comes complete with adoption certificate and a few bottles of Long Neck to celebrate the new arrival.

How to Enter: All you have to do to enter the contest is join (or already be a member of) our monthly newsletter. We’ll draw a winner at random on the 3rd of June when our next newsletter goes out, and deliver Curious the adopted giraffe and three of his Long Neck friends to you the day after (or whenever you’d like) free of charge. You are of course completely welcome to un-join the minute after the draw is done, but we like giving discounts and free stuff to our members, so we hope you’ll stick around!

PS: Congrats to the winner of the May contest, Dolores Casey, who was drawn this morning!

As you may already know from our recent Wine for Dummies post, South African wines are increasingly winning high praise and recognition for their quality on the international stage, and being in the business myself, it’s obvious that Irish consumers are well aware of what this fascinating country has to offer.

Long Neck produces the sort of wine that has helped raise South Africa’s profile on the wine scene. The price point and smart packaging is obviously key, but it’s the level of quality inside the bottle that sustains the interest.

Long Neck is the brainchild of three friends, John Cullis, Archie Cameron, and Duncan McEuen with strong South African bonds and a love of good wine. Duncan is the Company’s top nose. A wine boffin of note, he was one time head of the wine department at the Christie’s auction house, in London, and continues to tutor in wine tastings around the world and serve on several international wine committees.

The name Long Neck was chosen because, like the giraffe, the partners found themselves in an extremely advantaged position. The giraffe’s height allows it to feed on the succulent leaves and fruit that other animals can’t reach. So the Company’s modus operandi and the inspiration for the brand’s exceptional packaging was chosen.

South-Western Cape is widely acclaimed to be one of the worlds most spectacular wine growing areas. The long hot summers tempered by cool ocean breezes, and cold, wet winters made it the perfect location for Long Neck to produce some cracking wines. Bandon’s very own Manic Mammy certainly thought so of the Sauvignon Blanc in this LouderVoice review.

For May and June, we have our Long Neck range at €7.99 per bottle when you buy two or more, with a case delivered to your door for €95. And no, we’re not having a Giraffe. So if you haven’t got on the South African wine trail yet, now’s the time. These wines are certainly worth reaching for.

Beautiful South Africa is considered one of the stars of the New World, yet wine has been made there for over 350 years. At one time, it was the vineyards of Constantia that were considered to be producing the best wines in the world. Today, with such easy access to international markets, the country’s wine industry has been given an energetic lease of life to quench the thirst of all those new found disciples.

The ‘Wine of Origin’ legislation of South Africa dates back to 1973. For those wines coming into the EU, the stated variety and vintage must constitute 85% of the wine, but 100% of the grapes must come from the stated production area. The smallest recognised production area is the Estate. Estate wineries must make wine from grapes grown on their own land. Groups of Estates are known as Wards, which are grouped into Districts, with the largest production area being known as a Region.

Regional wines are generally the least expensive, and it’s these wines that have helped make South Africa more accessible to so many people worldwide. There has been huge investment in equipment in recent years from co-operatives, who source grapes from farmers and specialise in large volumes produced in modern wineries.

Typically South Africa is renowned for its red Pinotage, which is a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault. It’s one that shows red berry fruit characters, and from mature vines it can produce full-bodied, rich, spiced, berry fruit. The white patriot is Chenin Blanc, which is producing great alternatives to French versions, such as Vouvray. It accounts for around a fifth of white plantations. Floral aromas combined with tropical fruit is often complimented by almonds and honey from bottle aging, and smoky, toasty flavours from oak.

Recently, there has been big demand for the reds in particular, so this led to an influx of noble varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Shiraz. They are also producing some exceptional Chardonnay’s from the cooler sites and showing a range of different styles from the Sauvignon Blanc grape, so be sure to explore, or continue to explore South Africa, because it looks like there are going to be even more interesting wines coming our way.

Here’s a few examples from our own range:

Paarl Heights Chenin Blanc: A product of the Paarl Region, which has provided perfect growing conditions for this soft, fruity white.

Long Neck Pinotage: This is a great introduction to Pinotage, with concentrated fruit and hints of pepper and fig. It’s produced in Western Cape, which covers all vineyards of the Cape.

Saxenburg Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon: This is South Africa showing off with a noble grape variety. The tannins in this Estate red have been beautifully tamed and mellowed after 12 months oak aging and time in bottle.