Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This features a seductive texture that coats the palate, offering an intriguing mineral grip that supports notes of yellow plum and melon at the core, with spice and floral accents gliding along the edges. Delivers a long, inviting finish. Chenin Blanc. Drink now through 2029.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2019 Tania & Vincent Carême Terre Brûlée is an excellent Chenin Blanc that we all should be enjoying. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers whispers of honeydew aroma and flavors as it finishes with bright peach notes. Pair it with a summer salad of slivered roast chicken, shredded romaine, pickled scallions, and a touch of red chile oil. (Tasted: July 28, 2020, San Francisco, CA)
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.
Literally meaning "the black land," Swartland takes its name from the endangered, indigenous "renosterbos" (translating to rhino bush), which used to be plentiful enough to turn the entire landscape a dark color certain during times of year. The district, attracting some of the most adventurous and least interventionist winemakers, excels in robust and full-bodied reds as well as quality fortified wines.