The little Wine Journey was launched in December 07 and the response from The Last Word guests has been phenomenal. We've visited some spectacular places. The cellars that we visit are small boutique producers, usually not open to the general public where we have the opportunity to meet with the owner or winemaker and really spend time getting to know the wines.

Scali is such a cellar. Willie and Tanya de Waal are fifth generation owners of a wine farm that was bought by Willie's great, great, great grandfather with the proceeds of a diamond he'd found in Kimberley. There tasting room is their living room with photographs of the four generations before gracing the walls. They approach their winemaking in a very traditional way, believing the wine should really be a product of the soil, with minimal human intervention. The wines are made in an oxidative style in a rustic old cellar with open tank wooden fermenters. They're not afraid to experiment and often approach the winemaking in unusual ways. A good example is the Chenin Blanc that they fermented on the skins and blended into their white blend the Scali Blanc. All of the Scali wines display heaps of character. These are truly wines with soul.