The Liberator

The Liberator is the South African wine project of Richard Kelley MW, better known here as Rick. Having lived and worked in the Cape between 1995 and 2002, Richard built lasting relationships with its winemakers and developed a particular talent for finding remarkable wines with nowhere obvious to go.

On regular visits, he seeks out small parcels that deserve a bottling of their own. An experimental batch, an unusual blend or a few barrels left outside a producer’s usual range might otherwise disappear into a larger blend or be sold in bulk. Rick gives these wines a separate identity, releasing each discovery as an ‘Episode’ with its own name, label and story.

There is no prescribed grape variety, style or price bracket. The interest lies in the individual wine and the judgement behind its selection. These are finite parcels, so the line-up changes as discoveries arrive and earlier releases sell through. For anyone curious about the breadth of South African wine, The Liberator offers plenty to explore, with a sense of humour that never gets in the way of what is in the glass.