Chenin Blanc

2011

A rich Chenin blanc with gentle aromas of apple and tropical fruit. The bright acidity helps to carry the generous mouth feel. Due to the natural ferment the wine has great complexity and great length. A versatile wine equally well suited to partner dishes like seafood, risotto or roast chicken.

VINEYARDS

Chenin blanc is regarded as the workhorse of the South African Wine Industry. It produces the bulk of our generic white wines. There is however some gems in between the mass of Chenin blanc vineyards. Our goal is to identify these gems and allow it to express themselves in the False Bay Chenin blanc.

We focus on areas that long stood out for producing great Chenin blanc wines, like the Paardeberg and Riebeek areas.  Old bushvine vineyards, have over time found their natural balance and ultimately it shows in the wines.

THE 2010/11 GROWING SEASON

It was a year characterized by huge climatic differences which resulted in a small crop with lots of concentration. Low winter rains and a very dry summer played a major part in the smaller crop. The start of the growing season was cool with lots of wind which led to uneven flowering. Windy conditions prevailed until mid-February and were particularly strong during December. Harvest started 6 – 10 days earlier than normal due to the dry, windy conditions. The harvest period was also very compact due to the dry conditions and small crop.

WINEMAKING

Picking early in the morning, we de-stemmed the grapes before separating the juice from the skins.  The free run juice was separated from the skins immediately and allowed to settle at 12 degrees Celcius for 24 hours.  No enzymes were used to aid the settling & the press juice was discarded.  No cultured yeasts were used and fermentation took 9 months to complete.  The wine was left on the secondary lees for another 1 month before bottling.

ANALYSIS

Alc: 12.5%
TA: 5.12 g/l
pH: 3.43
RS: 6.30 g/l

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