Platinum Old Bushvine Chenin Blanc

Grapes were hand picked mid-February, brought to the cellar crisp and cold, followed by a light whole-bunch pressing only extracting the finest free-run juice for vinification. Juice cold settled for 48 hours, racked with some fine lees to older 300Ltr French oak barrels were fermentation commenced. Fermentation temperature was controlled between 16-22°C and was completed after 12days.

This 3ha of old bush vines were planted in 1980 and is drip-irrigated to ensure optimal conditions for ripening. It’s planted on soils consisting of weathered granite on clay, with a north facing slope. The nearby Atlantic Ocean (False Bay) also has a cooling effect on the vineyards during the ripening season. With the Western Cape coming out of a 3 year drought period it looked promising but many vineyards had not yet recovered in full. In general a cooler growing period with unfavourable weather during flower and set in October and November which led to smaller berries and bunches with unevenness for some cultivars at harvest. Weather was good with start of harvest until March when it turned into cool and wet conditions which necessitated greater input to control disease outbreak. Harvest began mid-January and was completed end March with similar yields to previous year.

The wine was kept on the lees in barrel and stirred weekly to gain extra complexity and mouthfeel for a total of 8 months until bottling.