First Light Chenin Blanc

Shellfish, Spicy food, Lean fish, Mild and soft cheese

South facing slopes are exposed to the bright and crisp first light of each day. This aspect, combined with fresh afternoon breezes off the cold Atlantic Ocean provide ideal conditions for optimal ripening of the grapes. The vineyards are planted on decomposed granite and table mountain sandstone soils. Vines for the First Light are between 30 and 50 years old and yield around 5 tons per hectare.

After fermentation the wine is racked off the heavy lees, returned to the fine lees and left for 4 months. The wine is then racked and bottled. The goal throughout the process for this wine is to maintain freshness.

The grapes are harvested and pressed straight away. No skin contact is allowed, and fermentation proceeds naturally in stainless steel tanks.

“We would like people who drink our wines to experience the estate our soils our slopes our vines and our terroir. Wine should be experienced and not merely drunk and we endeavour to make every bottle of our wine a memorable experience. We believe wine is made in the vineyards and our goal is to allow the vineyards to express themselves by interfering as little as possible. As a result we have adopted a minimalist approach in both the vineyards and the cellar. The idea being to minimalise the human influence on the final product. In the vineyards we do everything by hand from pruning to harvesting. We are also proud members of the Biodiversity and Wine Initiative and of the Integrated Production of Wine Scheme. We have set aside 30% of the estate and dedicated it to the Western Capes indigenous flora and fauna. The goal in the cellar is to facilitate the production of wine from grapes and not merely manufacture wine. This is again done by following the minimalist approach of nothing added apart from a small amount of SO2 prior to bottling. All grapes are hand sorted in the cellar to remove m.o.g. (material other than grapes) and unripe grapes before they go to tank. Wild or naturally occurring yeasts are allowed to ferment the grapes before the wine is drained off the skins and allowed to mature in French oak barrels before being racked and bottled.