Swartland Founders Merlot
£10.99
£14.65 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 6 bottles available
An everyday South African Merlot that punches above its price tag. Soft, plummy and approachable, with whispers of chocolate and liquorice and a velvety finish that asks for a second glass. From the sun-baked hills of the Swartland to your UK doorstep, this is the easy-drinking red you'll want on the rack for Tuesday-night pasta and unexpected guests alike.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
UK wide delivery
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Our Verdict
We keep the Founders Merlot on the shelf because it does something genuinely difficult: it overdelivers at under £11. We've tasted plenty of entry-level Merlots that taste exactly like their price tag, this one doesn't. There's real plumpness here, a softness from those warm Swartland sites that makes it feel more generous than it has any right to be. It's the wine we reach for when friends pop round unannounced, or when we want a red that won't fight with whatever's on the table. Honest, easy, and quietly clever for the money.
Tasting Notes
Open the bottle and you're met with ripe red plum and black cherry, lifted by a curl of dark chocolate and a whisper of liquorice. The palate is medium-bodied and unmistakably generous: juicy red berries arrive first, sweet-edged but never cloying, then a soft seam of cocoa rolls through the middle. Tannins are polished and yielding, the kind that smooth the mouth rather than grip it, carrying a velvety finish that lingers longer than the price tag suggests.
Juicy Red Berry
Ripe red plum and sweet cherry sit at the heart of the wine, giving it that immediate, lip-smacking appeal that makes Merlot so easy to love.
Dark Chocolate Edge
A subtle cocoa undertone wraps around the fruit, lending warmth and a hint of richness without ever tipping into heaviness.
Liquorice Lift
A gentle anise and liquorice note adds interest on the nose, the kind of savoury twist that keeps the wine from feeling one-dimensional.
About This Wine
If you've been hunting for a midweek red that doesn't ask too much of you, no decanting, no overthinking, just genuine pleasure in the glass, the Swartland Founders Merlot is your answer. This is South African Merlot in its friendliest form: ripe red plum, a curl of dark chocolate, a flick of liquorice on the nose, and a mouthfeel so velvety it almost slips past you.
The Swartland, 'black land' in Afrikaans, sits about 70km north of Cape Town, a hot, dry district that's become South Africa's playground for adventurous winemakers. The vineyards here are cooled by Atlantic breezes sweeping in off the coast, and that push-and-pull between warm days and cool nights is what gives this Merlot its softness without losing its shape. Medium-bodied, fruit-forward, and built around drinkability rather than swagger.
Pour it alongside a creamy carbonara, a properly loaded pepperoni pizza, or a slow-cooked ragu on a Sunday evening. It's also a brilliant crowd-pleaser for dinner parties where you don't know everyone's palate, there's nothing here to argue with, and plenty to enjoy.
Delivered across the UK, this is the kind of bottle you'll keep ordering by the case. Send a few to a homesick South African friend in Britain and you'll make their week.
Food Pairing
This is a midweek crowd-pleaser, built for the kind of comfort food you actually eat. Think creamy mushroom tagliatelle, a generously topped pepperoni pizza, or a Tuesday-night spaghetti bolognese. The soft tannins won't fight tomato-based sauces, and the chocolatey edge handles a smoky chargrilled burger beautifully. Pull a cheeseboard together with a wedge of mature Gouda and you've got an easy evening sorted.
- —Creamy mushroom and bacon tagliatelle
- —Pepperoni and chorizo pizza from the pizza stone
- —Classic spaghetti bolognese
- —Chargrilled cheeseburgers with melted Cheddar
- —Roast chicken thighs with smoked paprika
How to Serve
Temperature
Cool room temperature. Twenty minutes in the fridge before pouring keeps the fruit fresh and focused.
Decanting
No need to decant. This is a fruit-driven, ready-to-go style, just pull the cork, pour a glass, and let the second pour show you how the chocolate notes deepen with a little air.
Glass
A standard red wine glass with a medium bowl works perfectly, enough room for the fruit to lift without overwhelming the medium body.
Ageing & Cellaring
Drink this one young while the fruit is at its most exuberant. It's built for immediate enjoyment rather than the cellar, pour it within a year or two of buying and you'll catch it at its plushest, most generous best.
The Land
The vineyards spread out across the hills around Malmesbury, where a patchwork of microclimates, soils and aspects gives each parcel its own signature. Atlantic breezes and the shadow of the surrounding mountains keep the warm Swartland sun in check, helping the fruit ripen evenly and hold its plump, juicy character.
The Winemaking
Made in an approachable, fruit-forward style, this Merlot leans on careful fruit selection from warmer inland sites to capture plump, ripe berry character. The winemaking team keeps the focus on the grape itself, gentle extraction to draw out colour and soft tannin without harshness, with just enough structure to give the wine its velvety, lingering finish. The result is a medium-bodied red built for easy drinking rather than long cellaring, generous on chocolate and liquorice notes that sit naturally alongside juicy red fruit.
The Swartland Region
Swartland, 'the black land' in Afrikaans, named for the renosterbos that darkens after rain, rolls out north of Cape Town across the hills around Malmesbury and Riebeek-Kasteel. It's hot, dry, and stubbornly characterful: a place of old bush vines, granite and koffieklip soils, and a community of growers who've made it the most quietly thrilling corner of South African wine. Concentration, freshness, and a wild streak you don't find elsewhere, that's Swartland in a glass.
About the Producer
Swartland Winery
Swartland Winery has been a quiet workhorse of the Western Cape for over seventy years. It started life as a cooperative cellar, farmers pooling their fruit, sharing the work, building something bigger than any single grower could manage alone. That cooperative spirit still runs through the place, even after it restructured into a private wine company with three business units under one roof. Today, from its base just outside Malmesbury, the winery turns out around fifty-one different styles across red, white, sparkling and fortified. The Founders range sits at the everyday end of the lineup: lifestyle wines designed for the dinner table, not the cellar, but made with the same attention as the single-vineyard bottlings further up the range.