Sam Lambson always knew he wanted to do his own thing. He was DJing at 11, sold his sound equipment to friends to begin importing bicycle parts and hoverboards, and then used that money to buy his first grapes.
Sam Lambson had his first glimpse of the possibilities of making his own wine while working short stints and harvests for some of the Cape’s finest winemakers, including Carl van de Merwe, Lukas van Loggerenberg and Chris Alheit. While having dinner at Gino’s in Stellenbosch after a Northern Rhône tasting, he was lucky enough to taste a 1998 Jamet Côte Rotie. “I knew then and there I wanted to make Syrah,” he says. “I figured that if I could ever learn to make wine half as good, it would’ve been a life well spent.”
The grapes
In 2018, while studying oenology and viticulture at Stellenbosch University, he persuaded Chris Groenewald (now co-owner and winemaker of Smiley wines) to give him a part-time job at Hawk + Schoon, which Sam describes as “a cool little boutique wine store in town at the time”. Thanks to the winemakers he met through Hawk + Schoon, he gained access to quality grapes, which he bought or received as payment in kind for working harvests. “I borrowed tanks from Jozua Joubert at Karibib, was given old barrels by Jocelyn of Hogan Wines and gave varsity friends a case of beer to help me collect grapes,” he says. “My family joined me for bottling day to celebrate my 21st birthday.”
Carston Migliarina of Migliarina Wines invited Sam to present his wine to lunchtime guests including Greg Sherwood MW at Spek & Bone Restaurant in Stellenbosch. “Greg liked it and introduced me to Richard Kelley MW of Dreyfus Ashby. He has since become my UK importer and champion. In 2020, we took a long-term lease on our first vineyard, Niemandsrivier in Elgin, where we’ve been farming ever since.”
Owner and winemaker Sam Lambson
The brand
Sam named his brand Minimalist – a reference to his approach of intervening as little as possible in the winemaking process and letting his wines express their origin. “It’s about moving with intention and clarity, keeping things simple and doing only what’s essential,” he says. “It’s about treading lightly, imperfectly, in the vineyards and cellar. And in life.”
Sam likes to explore the nuances of each vineyard and believes there’s no “right” way to make wine, only various ways. Syrah remains his first love and Minimalist is about exploring its potential in South Africa’s cool climates.
Minimalist produces three labels: Stars in the Dark (Wine of Origin Agulhas), No Place Like Home (Wine of Origin Elgin) and Connect the Dots (Wine of Origin Cape Agulhas, Elgin and Stellenbosch). “We also have a table wine label, EXPERIMENTAL, which was conceived to explore and share interesting varietals we find across the Cape. These are made in small batches, sometimes in collaboration with other producers.”
The whole journey has been a rollercoaster ride, he says. “We got close to closing two other cellar opportunities in Cape Town before this, and I’ve had to dig deep to get this one over the line. Then, last year, we lost a tank of No Place Like Home due to sabotage. That hurt in every way.” Through his work, Sam manages to turn these struggles into something good, with 10% of EXPERIMENTAL proceeds going to the South African Depression and Anxiety Group.
The cellar
After spending six years spent roaming between multiple cellars and custom-crush facilities, Sam felt it was time to simplify, trading the convenience of rented space for the stability of a brand home. “We sell most of our wine abroad and have been looking for innovative ways to sell more to the local market,” he says.
His wish list included a great location, concrete tanks and a hydraulic basket press – all in pursuit of that dream Syrah. It took three designs in three buildings in Cape Town’s CBD before he finally settled on a new development in Hope Street, Gardens, called the Roodehek Precinct. “The reality is that the starting point for any cellar design in an existing building has to be based around what’s most difficult to move,” he says. The mixed-use building integrates the cellar and restaurant with a co-workspace and other businesses.
The cellar is divided across two floors in an old textile factory, with Minimalist occupying half the ground and half the first floor. On the first floor is home to an office, bottle store and delivery area, while the fermentation cellar, barrel store and tasting room are downstairs. “We’ve thrown out the destemmer and returned to where we started in 2018,” Sam says. “We’ve committed ourselves to 100% whole-bunch pressing and cut a hole in the floor, so you can expect gravity racking to lend a gentle hand to our production process. We’ll also be sharing the downstairs space with The Flour Market, an exciting new venture by Cape Town favourite David Donde of Truth Coffee, where our wines will be served.”
Treading lightly
The tasting room will be open by appointment and there’ll be an ongoing programme of events in collaboration with the restaurant. Sam intends to pay it forward by giving upcoming independent producers a leg up, like he had, by making the tasting room available to them to showcase their wines. “While we’re future-focused, it’s important to give a nod to the generation of winemakers who came before us,” he says. “We owe them everything. Without the groundwork they laid over the past 20 years, it would’ve been impossible for a business such as ours to exist.”
Sam and Minimalist assistant winemaker Henry Melt van Breda are now looking forward to putting their feet up in their new tasting room and sharing a bottle of No Place Like Home. “We’ve put our heart and soul into this and are excited to be joining a stellar group of city wine outlets and contributing to Brand SA here in Cape Town.”
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