Private Cellar Chenin Blanc

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

Grapes were night harvested and picked by hand to retain flavours.

Wine was aged for 11 months before racked and blended.

Grapes were gently crushed and pressed. This wine was fermented in 40% new French and Hungarian oak and 60% in 2nd and 3rd fill French and Hungarian 300 litre oak barrels. 30% was fermented with natural yeast.

Rijk’s is situated 120km North-East of Cape Town and 80km East of the Atlantic ocean in a Mediterranean climate. Our valley is surrounded by the Obiqua, Winterhoek, and Witzenberg mountains which reach heights of up to 1 995m. Lover of good food and collector of good wines, Neville Dorrington had been working in Cape Town for more than 20 years. In 1996 Neville and his family decided to move to the countryside and grow and produce their own wine. We fell in love with the Tulbagh valley and came across 137 hectares of virgin soils that were never cultivated. The slopes faced north, south, east, and west and the analysis of the vertical shale soils revealed the potential for low-yielding, high-quality grapes. Today Rijk’s only focuses on producing Chenin Blanc and Pinotage. Rijk’s has been named in honour of the governor Rijk Tulbagh who governed the Cape from 1751-1771.