The Rocking Horse Cape Blend displays attractive notes of orange blossom, yellow plum, bay leaf and beautiful saline undertones. Very interesting, refreshing and easy to drink.

Thorne & Daughters are widely acknowledged to be a key figure in South Africa’s ‘New Wave’ wine movement. Since 2013, John and Tasha Thorne-Seccombe have been producing innovative wines sourced from selected growers across the Western Cape. In the early 2000s, winemaking took the couple around the world, and they spent a few years in the UK, where John studied viticulture at Plumpton College while working part-time at Majestic Wines and Ridgeview. Among his early achievements on an expansive CV, John’s keen eye for vineyard design led him to establish the first vineyards at Steven Spurrier’s Bride Valley in Dorset.

Back in South Africa, a happy encounter with two similarly trailblazing young winemakers, Chris Alheit and Peter-Allan Finlayson, helped lay the foundations for the first vintage of Thorne & Daughters. John and Tasha shared a small cellar with Chris and Peter-Allan until they moved to rented cellar space at Gabriëlskloof, where the wines are made today.
Thorne & Daughters mainly produce Cape white blends, from grapes sourced from 15 growers in Bot River, Stellenbosch, Voor Paardeberg, Swartland, Citrusdal, Franschhoek and Overberg. John and Tasha did not want to be limited geographically, so the net was cast wide and driven by “a happy synergy of people, place, soil and vines”. As John puts it, he aims to look for vineyards which combine these four elements and seeks to do these vineyards justice in the cellar. Each relationship is unique but, where possible, they apply the ‘lutte raisonnée’ approach to farming, working closely with growers to help eradicate the use of chemical herbicides and fungicides, and to build “thriving” soil health.