English Virgin Wines in South Africa

English winemaking firm Litmus Wines who are based at Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, will work with Virgin Limited Edition, Richard Branson's luxury hotel collection, to launch a new wine business. The wine brand will be made available in Virgin's hotels and restaurants, through on-trade and specialist independent merchants. This follows the acquisition last year of the Mont Rochelle Vineyards Mountain Vineyard in South Africa's Western Cape in the Franschhoek wine region. They seek to sell three levels of wines: Entry level red wine blend, a premium focusing on the terroir of Franschhoek and the Ultra-Premium Miko range of small parcel wines which will primarily be available in Rochelle's 2 restaurants and across the VLE estate. Litmus will oversee improvements to the wine cellars and manage ongoing winemaking and international wine sales.