Chenin Blanc

Any Indian or Eastern dishes with rich, deep flavours of soy and spices will be a superb pairing with this wine. Seafood dishes will also be a winner.

With a good winter 2021 under the belt, the 2022 season was rearing to go! Everything was set and ready for Spring to arrive, even the temperatures began heading northwards a little early. But, as we can always expect, the unexpected was also lurking around the corner. A late spat of rain and a snap of cold towards the end of August made for the early excitement of Spring to be rudely interrupted. After that initial delay, Spring sprang into action, albeit with a slight hesitance. The harvest started out early, especially with the dryland vines and then continued into the whites, but there was an urgency missing. It was only later when looking back, that the season seemed like it was slightly stunted, just missing some energy. After the whites casually strolled into the cellar, we could continue with the reds and - boy oh boy - did they take their sweet time. Always a good thing! Don’t get me wrong! It’s always a blessing to have more time than needed in harvest! But it is also then that you realize just how precious a commodity like “time” really is……extremely. Use it wisely.

These 2 portions were kept separate to continually taste, coupled with analysis.The maturation lasted for 10 months after the wine was bottled and stored for another 9 months prior to release.

After the grapes were cooled down, we proceeded to press 50% of the production as whole bunch clusters, and in the same press, on top of the bunches we crushed another 25% of the grapes. The resulting juice was then naturally fermented in 300L and 500L neutral French oak barrels. 25% of the production (same grape lot) we destemmed, crushed and fermented – on the skins until dry. We had daily punch downs and concentrated extraction of the flavour in the skins.

Pilgrim Wines is a unique wine company, dedicated to inspire, teach and surprise. We are a small family-owned business with a passion for wine making. Well-known Winemaker Henry Kotzé (former Morgenster and now at the iconic Mulderbosch) carefully crafts the wines for owner and Viticulturist wife Riëtte Kotzé’s Pilgrim Wines brand. We do not have our own vineyards, at the moment we source our grapes from small pockets of vineyards that we have come across in our everyday paths. These distinct parcels of land, happen to be in our home-grown Stellenbosch area and the amazing Voor Paardeberg regions. We partner with like minded ethical growers and believe in leaving nothing but footprints for the next generation. We focus on innovative methods with tried and tested cultivars, as well as experimental styles with unorthodox, unfamiliar cultivars. We like to discover the new and untried pathways in the journey of grape to bottle.