Winemaker Notes
Can be served with varied spicy dishes, full flavored fish or chicken dishes. Ideal with crayfish, prawns. A true benchmark for relaxed enjoyment.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2016 Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc actually comes from 35-year-old vines and is partially barrel fermented. It has a very refined bouquet, touches of white peach, apricot and walnut, a hint of smoke emerging with time. The palate is well balanced with melon, grapefruit, saline notes with fine depth and slightly chalky on the finish. This is much better than the 2014 I tasted on my last trip.
Unquestionably one of the most diverse grape varieties, Chenin Blanc can do it all. It shines in every style from bone dry to unctuously sweet, oaked or unoaked, still or sparkling and even as the base for fortified wines and spirits. Perhaps Chenin Blanc’s greatest asset is its ever-present acidity, maintained even under warm growing conditions. Somm Secret—Landing in South Africa in the mid 1800s, today the country has double the acreage of Chenin Blanc planted compared to France. There is also a new wave of dedicated producers committed to restoring old Chenin vines.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.