On a Flight of Furious Fancies Chenin Blanc

Shellfish, Spicy food, Lean fish, Mild and soft cheese

One sight: the Polkadraai Hills; one grape: Chenin blanc. This bottling currently uses one vineyard, on Karibib farm on False Bay. The boney granite soils inexplicably, but undeniably, in concert with the harsh winds of the South Easter, provide a racy expression of Chenin blanc grown in a warm climate. We like to think of this as what ought to be as quintessentially a South African wine as can be: old vine Chenin, grown without irrigation on the coastal hillsides of Stellenbosch.

Wines were bottled in December after having spent 11 months in barrel with no racking or fining.

Grapes are hand picked and cooled overnight. The following morning they are put into the press and pressed as whole bunches. No sulphur, yeast, acid, enzymes or water were added. Very cloudy juice was transferred to neutral oak barrels, with only the heaviest of solids left behind. Fermentation took place over 4 weeks, after which about half of the barrels completed malolactic fermentation. In Autumn wines were sulphured for the first time.

The profoundest facet of wine, beyond its flavour, is when and where it can be utterly unique - otherwise all the wine in the world might as well come from a single factory in France (or Taiwan). Angus Paul Wines looks to identify that which makes South Africa unique; combining its old rocks, atavistic gees and quasi-indigenous varietals to produce wines that could only come from the windy Cape. Chenin blanc and Pinotage take the lead roles in the winery - along with a small but genuine supporting cast of other grapes - where they are left untampered to bear the transcription of the sunshine, soil and soul of the Western Cape.