Ex Animo

Ex Animo Wine Co., based in Cape Town, was founded by David Clarke—originally from Melbourne, on the edge of the Yarra Valley—and his South African wife, Jeanette. The pair met in 2004, working in the wine department at Harrods in London before settling in South Africa. Before wine, David was a civil servant in his early twenties—a job he found "pretty dull," except for the long, wine-fuelled parliamentary lunches that first sparked his interest. He became captivated by how wine evolves—from minute to hour to year. The Clarke’s aren’t known to be winegrowers, though. Ex Animo is a distributor, importer, and exporter, representing some of the Cape’s most thoughtful producers, including JH Meyer, Mother Rock, and Scions of Sinai from the Indigo portfolio. Their new vineyard project, De Keur, is in Ceres (pronounced “series”), north of the Breedekloof—an area better known for apples and pears than its grapes. Perched at 1,000m, the 2.9-hectare site belongs to Jeanette’s family and is planted to three interplanted Grenache clones. Now eight years old and free of disease pressure, the vineyard remains the sole focus, with no plans to expand until this wine is perfected.