Homo Naledi

WHAT were the chances! Another branch in mankind’s family tree is discovered beneath the bushveld and they call it Naledi, the same name that adorns a range of Savanha wines produced by Spier in Stellenbosch… Amazing to think of a species not that unlike us wondering around the Magaliesberg of Gauteng hundreds of thousands if not millions of years ago, staring up at the stars – ‘star’ being the translation of ‘Naledi’, a Sotho word according to Spier, or Setswana according to the folk at Maropeng north-west of Johannesburg where the historic find was made.

Spier exclusive

It’s unlikely that Prof Lee Berger and his team of anthropologists, archaeologists and ‘underground astronauts’ working at ‘The Cradle of Humankind’ had any inkling about the wine that would have been ideal to use in toasting their achievement. After all, Savanha Naledi is for export only – although there was some to be had at the wine shop on the Spier resort when the unearthing of Naledi fossils was announced to the world. Perhaps the powers that be will see merit in revising the strategy for a brand begging to be served at the Maropeng Hotel and any number of places in South Africa and elsewhere where the origins of man might be a topic of conversation over lunch or at the dinner table…

What have we been missing? What’s in those bottles? Apparently “The best single varietal wines Spier has to offer. Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and South Africa’s very own varietal, Pinotage… Rich, structured and highly suitable for further maturation,” they say. Or maybe, as per those bones, they’ve been lying down for quite long enough already!