The name "Escapades" mirrors our activities.
Takis Soldatos, for many years a creator of wine projects worldwide, is a long-time friend of Vangelis Gerovassiliou and Vassilis Tsaktsarlis, two successful and internationally renowned winemakers. Takis has brought them along on inspirational trips, or escapades, to the world´s vineyards, where the idea was born to make world-class wines in different parts of the wine world. The first choice fell on South Africa thanks to it´s climate, fertile soil and exotic environment. In 2006 we started experimenting on a smaller scale and it proved to be a successful experiment! Today our Escapades wines have earned a well-respected name within the South African wine industry and are established on markets around the planet.
THE VINEYARDS & THE WINERY
The grapes for Escapades are sourced from selected vineyards in the Western Cape. We have purposely chosen this policy to have more than only one vineyard source in order to have access to the finest quality grapes, wherever they may grow. Part of the vineyards are used from year to year and consist a basis and then we add grapes from various sources depending on the wine characteristics we are looking for. In this way we are less dependent on weather conditions of the specific year, as long as it is good somewhere in the Cape! And we always have a wide selection and reach the desired result.
In the winery we receive and carefully select the grapes and only the best are qualified for our wines. High-tech equipment for modern winemaking and first-class French oak barrels are then coupled with the knowledge and passion to create outstanding wines.
FUTURE
Given that the nature of our business is to produce the best quality wine with terroir driven expressions of the individual varieties and blends, our focus remains on refining the fruit sources we procure and the concentration and integration of what we offer. While extremely happy with our current supply base of both high altitude and older vineyards, we will continue to seek out the best parcels that the Western Cape has to offer.
Despite a large portion of the grape growing area being in a relatively warm climate, consumer preference, and media focus seems to be on the high quality of the white wines produced, and to a degree cooler climate red wines and wines with real character. We continue to seek out the most expressive, concentrated characteristic offerings we can find, both white and red, with unquestionable quality being the focus as this is less likely to be affected by changing trends in the short term. As always our drive is for perfection and a focus on quality and we would like our obsession with finding the perfect balance of fruit and terroir to be evident in every wine.