The South African range of Mead and MCC Sparkling Wines, Van Hunks today launches a crowdfunding campaign with Seedrs. Van Hunks are aiming to raise £200,000 to drive expansion in the UK and other markets including the US in 2023. Investment will enable Van Hunks to launch two new products over the next months, which include a non-alcoholic MCC Sparkling Wine and a Vintage expression. Prior access to Van Hunks’ crowdfunding campaign is available on Seedrs online.
Van Hunks’ goal is to bring the energy, excitement, and intrigue from the spirits world and use it to refresh a tired sparkling category. Van Hunks are on a mission to use the beauty of their product and brand story to change how consumers view Méthode Cap Classique (MCC) and Sparkling Mead, and do what Prosecco did to sparkling wine, but with authentic craft credentials and low levels of sugar.
Van Hunks Founder, Tom Gamborg says: “We are excited to be launching our crowdfunding campaign for Van Hunks and look forward to the next stage of the brands life. Our aim is for the investment to support driving awareness of Van Hunks but also importantly the Cap Classique category.”
Van Hunks MCC Sparkling Wine and Mead are created out of the natural splendour of Cape Town and its surrounds. Van Hunks MCC’s are South Africa’s bubble equivalents to Champagne and are produced from the finest Stellenbosch vineyards. Van Hunks are also one of the few producers in the world to have successfully achieved a bottle fermented mead consistently.
Designed for those whose palates have matured away from sugary-sweet drinks, Van Hunks Brut and Rosé Sparkling Meads are unexpectedly dry with refined bubbles. The meads are produced using honey from honeybees, which feast on Fynbos wildflowers in the smallest floral kingdom in the world on South Africa’s Cape. Van Hunks uses a patented dry fermentation process to ferment the honey, resulting in a completely dry base mead. No artificial flavourings or additional sugars are added to Van Hunks Sparkling Meads, tapping into the trend for healthier, lower sugar drinks. Van Hunks Brut and Rosé MCC’s are matured in contact with the lees for approximately 30 months. Produced from a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Van Hunks Brut MCC Sparkling Wine is a lovely golden colour, creamy and biscuity with a smooth and dry finish. Van Hunks Rosé MCC has vivacious cascading bubbles and the full rich flavour of Pinot Noir combined with the elegance of Chardonnay and the uniqueness of Pinotage and Pinot Meunier.
Notorious for escaping the ordinary, Van Hunks was a man with a keen imagination and tenacious spirit. Pipe packed and drink in hand, he’d stroll through the vineyards into the Fynbos and scale the sandstone mountain cliffs in search of the perfect perch and contemplate the beauty of it all. Legend has it, he out-witted the devil in a smoking competition, but not before the smoke that they had made had covered the mountain, forming the famous tablecloth cloud on Table Mountain. In truth, the tablecloth cloud is created by the warm south-easterly breeze rising up the mountain slopes, meeting colder air at higher altitude. Condensation takes place and a thick mist soon coats the upper-most regions of the mountain, which waters the vineyards and flowers below that the bees that help produce Van Hunks meads visit.
Van Hunks Brut and Rosé MCC Sparkling Wine RRP: £20 for 75cl bottle
Available from: Amazon and Van Hunks
Van Hunks Brut and Rosé Sparkling Meads RRP: £25 for 75cl bottle