Organic Chenin Blanc

Southeast Asian cuisine or pork chops with apples.

The fruit for this wine comes from a single vineyard high up on the side of the Helderberg mountain slopes overlooking the Atlantic ocean. These 10- year-old vines grow in decomposed granite soil and have been farmed organically since planting. They benefit greatly from the South Easter sea breeze in summertime, cooling the entire vineyard. In the winter prior to harvest 2020, rainfall figures came close to the long-term average for Stellenbosch, which came as a relief to many. With more moisture in the soil the vines displayed strong vigour and the 2020 crop was larger than the previous year. The cool daytime conditions (and especially nights!) of December and January meant that our earlier varieties such as Chenin Blanc ripened with lovely acidity and great freshness.

The wine was then matured for 10 months before bottling.

The grapes were all hand-picked at dawn to capture freshness and acidity while retaining elegance in the flavour expression. The bunches were brought into our new Organic cellar for hand sorting and were then pressed straight into older (4 to 5-year-old) French oak barrels with no settling to ensure only the purest liquid was used to make this wine. Spontaneous fermentation took place in these barrels.

Founded in 1998 by Alex Dale, Radford Dale set about the Cape in search of exciting vineyard parcels for their chosen specialist varietals. Today, they have two producing wineries. The first is located in Stellenbosch, predominantly focused on sourcing maritime influenced parcels around the Helderberg and Polkadraai. Here, they produce the cult, single vineyard wines of Renaissance Chenin Blanc and Frankenstein Pinotage, and the Radford Dale Vinum range; a set of six wines that consistently overdeliver on style to price. The 2022 vintage marked the maiden release from their own vineyards purchased in Elgin under Radford Dale Organic, with the release of four single varietal Estate wines, the only organic certified vineyards in the region. More recently, they have co-founded South Africa’s first Organic Wine Association. They continue to reintroduce Gamay Noir to the Cape, establishing the first new plantings for some 20 years. It’s a varietal geared up to thrive in warm conditions, and on granite soils. Stylistically, Gamay also embodies Radford Dale’s championing of elegant, refreshing red wines.