Nomad Wines

Mosel & Nahe, Germany

Nomad Wines is the ambitious project of Kosie van der Merwe’s, one which sees him producing wines across both the northern and southern hemispheres, and in doing so, connecting his new home (Mösel, Germany) to his old one (Western Cape, South Africa).

Kosie grew up near Porterville in the Swartland, the iconic wine producing region to the north of Cape Town. Here, his family farmed 5ha of bush vine Palomino, but mostly focused their energies on the established dairy market. It was through working on the farm with his father that he realised that his love for agriculture was more aligned with the vineyard and winemaking efforts than the dairy. His love for wine led him to pursuing winemaking studies, and thereafter, he departed on his travels to work harvests around the world, absorbing everything he could from the mentors whom he worked alongside.

When he returned to South Africa, Kosie didn’t want to simply take the easy path and slot into one of the famous wine producing regions of the Cape. Instead he opted for the lesser known Elgin, where soon after he joined Elgin Ridge in 2016. Here he was instrumental in helping them with their biodynamic conversion. It was one of the first (and few) vineyards in the Cape to work to this philosophy. Kosie then met his wife, a German, and it was then that they decided to move back to her home.

He now spends the majority of his time in Mösel, where he is the right-hand man to another Modal stalwart, Jan Matthias Klein of Staffelter Hof. Here, he has helped establish the groundbreaking ‘weinwald’ in the village of Kröv – a 6 hectare plot of land that integrates vineyards with the surrounding woodlands and forests using ‘green corridors’ that connect the agricultural blocks to the natural vegetation. In doing so, they hope to create a space that is a holistic extension of the greater ecosystem in which it exists, allowing nature, animals and vines to flourish alongside each other.

Kosie’s South Africa wines are beautiful expressions of cool climate reds. They are elegant, with soft tannins and a smooth, silky finish. His German bottlings on the other hand celebrate the white hybrid varieties that are becoming increasingly popular in regions that struggle with disease pressure, like Mosel. They are high energy, textured and highly food friendly wines.