When Nick began Post House Wines in Raithby, just six breezy kilometres from the False Bay waters, linking his wine brands with the mail, the postal service or stamps was never pre-planned, “there was no grand plan”, he says. But with the main house previously being the Helderberg Post Office and with a working history from 1890 to the 1930’s, the new name was an easy step. Right outside the tasting room remains an old red post box as a constant reminder.
Nick had memories of collecting stamps from around the world from his childhood, and had retained knowledge of philately (stamp collecting). So now there is the ‘Golden Monkey’ southern Rhône blend, named after a Chinese stamp combining three elements of good fortune, the ‘Penny Black’ Red named for the first ever postage stamp, the ‘Missing Virgin’ red blend named after a rare Virgin Island stamp where the central image of St Ursula is missing. There is also the ‘Bulls Eye’ Cabernet Sauvignon, the ‘Merry Widow’ Shiraz and the ‘Treskilling Yellow’ Noble Late Harvest named after a Swedish stamp which may be the most rare and expensive stamp in the world.
But it doesn’t have to be a stamp, the ‘Blueish White and ‘Blueish Black’ are stamp printing colours and Nick will consider any link to the subject for future wines, “Pony Express” has a nice ring to it”, says Nick, “they’ve got to sound right”.
Nick has always wanted to go Nevada and visit the famous Black Mailbox, and says, “if I can’t get there, why not send my wine there?”
And so a challenge arose. Says Nick, ‘It struck me that perhaps a fellow #wineenthusiast could visit the post box on my behalf. Hence several bottles of Black Mail Merlot began an unchartered journey from Post House to the Blackmail post box 12000 km from here’.
‘So each wine will be sent off with different people who visit the winery (interested parties on a first come first served basis) and they will in turn pass the wine on to a fellow wine traveller, who’s name will be recorded on a tag for each consecutive carrier (and perhaps Instagrammed) so it can be tracked and followed, with the ultimate goal that the wine will reach its destination undrunk at some undetermined date at the Black Mail Box in Nevada. On reaching its final destination it can be enjoyed in situ. When or if a bottle ever reaches its destination one cannot tell and most likely will be drunk long before!’
The first bottles of Black Mail Merlot began their journey to the Black Mail Box in December and were carried by Dewi Knaapen and Eline Boshuizen visiting from the Netherlands. The next was taken by Michelle and Stephen Smith from the UK.
Quickly following were three bottles carried to Winnipeg, Canada then across the border to Itasca State Park in Minnesota, US.
In January Black Mail Merlot Bottle number 3 was on its way from Post House to Nevada via Ireland with Pierre and Alice Rocher. Nick says, ‘hope it makes it out of the emeraldisle!’
Perhaps surprisingly, the goal has been met and it only took a month. On January 14th Stephen Smith – son of the couple who visited in December - placed a bottle of Post House Black Mailbox Merlot on the real thing in Nevada. Says Stephen, ‘I was already going to the US to go climbing with a friend from uni so taking the wine sounded like a bit of fun. After a long day climbing we decided to go to the letter box…it lead us on a two hour adventure into the desert.’
Post House Wines put out the statement, ‘the bottle was left for the aliens and is currently travelling the galaxy’.
Sadly, aliens are not enjoying the wine. Stephen wisely took it back to New York where it was quickly drunk.
The nice story and success of the venture has given Nick an idea to send another bottle to its inspirational home.
Nick has visited the crypt of the ‘Missing Virgin’, St Ursula’s in Cologne, Germany, where supposedly she and 11,000 virgin followers were captured and martyred. It might be an idea to send bottles to the resting place of the ‘Missing Virgin’. Similarly, Nick has always wanted to see the opera of the “Merry Widow’, perhaps in the US where the stamp originated, or in London where Lily Elsie caused such fascination with her hats on stage in the early 1900’s. Either would provide a suitable destination for one of his wines. Or there is the ‘Bull’s Eye’ of Brazil or the ‘Golden Monkey’ of China. The biggest hurdle, though, may not be the distance, or customs, but getting it there before it is drunk.