In 2018 three researchers met at a networking event hosted by the Danish embassy in Pretoria. The three spent the evening chatting about water and environmental research, and also about wine; two common interests they are all passionate about. Thus began a long-term friendship and research collaboration. The three (now friends) conducted research looking at novel ways to treat acid mine drainage, a pernicious environmental consequence of mining activities, with a significant negative environmental impact, globally.
From this research, it was discovered that this mining waste water contained rare-earth metals, highly prized for their use in electronics and space-age materials. The three friends also dreamed of (one day) making wine as a side project, based on their mutual love of it. And thus, the Rare Earth Wines project was born.
Kath Gerakaris of Gerakaris Family Wines very kindly agreed to meet with us in 2024, and equally kindly shared her networks and her cellar with us to create our first vintage of shiraz, in 2025. Only one barrel of shiraz was made, which was bottled (unfiltered) in January 2026. Holmium Shiraz was born.
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