Chenin Blanc

The grapes were hand harvested in picking baskets and production was around 5 tons per hectare. Crushing and de-stemming took place after which the mash went to the separation tank and the juice was cooled down to 8ºC and transferred to settling tanks. The juice was then racked to stainless steel tanks, inoculated with cultured yeast and with the onset of fermentation it was transferred to barrel, where it completed fermentation between 14-21 days. The blend underwent partial malolactic fermentation after which the wine spent 9 months in 228 litre French oak barrels. Each block was harvested at least three times at different levels of ripeness, and each picking was divided into four batches, inoculated with different yeast strains, all to achieve different characters which, when blended, attained maximum complexity in the wine.

Our famous Chenin Blanc vineyard varies between 48 and 50 years of age. The vines are planted on W-NW facing slopes at 280-300m and N-NW and at 180- 205m above sea level. The soil varies from medium to heavy textured, with a moderate structure and shale mother material.