Winemaker Notes
Golden hued and full bodied, with melon and spicy baked apple aromas. Layered, with mineral notes enhanced by honeycomb and caramel flavors from lees contact. This wine is a great example of the harmonious balance which can be achieved between fruit and delicate oak/vanilla flavors, as they combine to form complex, soft flavors with sufficient body to enhance even spicy and full flavored meals.
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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James Suckling
A lively and bright chenin blanc that has sliced apples, grapefruit and fennel on the nose, followed by a creamy, medium-bodied palate. Attractive stony undertone.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and well-balanced, this shows flavors of Gala apple, lemon pith, blanched almond and chamomile underscored by minerally hints of stone and smoke. Drink now. 9,090 cases made, 500 cases imported.
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.