Vinum Chenin Blanc

Southeast Asian cuisine or pork chops with apples.

The gnarled, old bush vines that produce this truly characterful Chenin Blanc are planted in some of the purest granite soils on the foothills of the magnificent Helderberg Mountain, in Stellenbosch. The vines are mainly grown under dryland conditions, meaning they are not irrigated, and therefore their roots plunge meters into the granite subsoil in search of moisture. The altitude of the vineyards, the steep South-East facing slope, and the proximity to Ocean-facing False Bay, on the Southern tip of Africa, mean that these vines are well exposed and cooled by winds that come off the cold ocean, during the long, hot summer. These factors combine to produce a wonderfully fresh and vivacious expression of what is to us, the Cape’s greatest grape.

Grapes were picked by hand as well as manually sorted to ensure that we maintain the purity of varietal expression for which this wine has become known. Gentle pressing in a pneumatic bag press, with the extracted juice moved to a combination of 2500L Foudre, 500L, 300L, and 228L barrels for alcoholic fermentation. The barrels used are predominantly 2nd to 5th fill French oak, of Burgundian cooperages. Whilst the Foudre is of tight-grain, Austrian origin. The usage of unintrusive oaking promotes optimal varietal expression.

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.