Steen

Our Steen is made up of three components: 75% is fermented and then matured in a combination of new and seasoned 500l French oak barrels. 15% is fermented spontaneously and matured on the lees in concrete eggs. Bâtonnage is done monthly for textural mouthfeel.

The Donkiesbaai Steen is made using fruit from Certified Heritage Vineyards, which were certified through the Old Vine Project. The vineyards were planted in 1988 and 1986 respectively, and are unirrigated bush vines, planted on poor, sandstone soils. The vineyards are 650m above sea level, experiencing warm summer days with cool nights and relatively low winter rainfall of approximately 550mm per annum. The Chenin Blanc is planted on Ramsey rootstock, which is vigorous with excellent drought tolerance and high water-use efficiency. The bush vines are planted at a low density, with 2780 vines per hectare, and 3m spacing between rows. The low density allows vines to thrive in a low rainfall area without irrigation. Also, considering ongoing climate change, low density, unirrigated vineyards are much less vulnerable to climatic drought compared to medium or high-density vineyards. The vines are head trained bush vines. Pruning takes place in two steps; pre-pruning eliminates non-bearing canes, leaving a remaining 10 shoots. These are pruned down to two buds each during the second stage of pruning. During the growing season the canopy is managed through two rounds of suckering, followed by tipping and topping after fruit set. Leaf thinning is done surrounding bunches to provide ventilation and to maintain healthy clusters.