Granietsteen

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

2021 as a vintage seemed to play out as a promising vintage from the start. Fair weather, no heatwaves and dry ripening conditions with notably cooler nights. Chenin blanc showed good balance between acidity and ripeness. Here, at Rustenhof Farm, we have Certified Heritage Vineyard bushvines, dryfarmed on wheathered in situ granite soils being frail and more oxidative. The aspect faces East-South East. Planted as contours in 1978 on Sinai Hill, panning out over False Bay at 3.5km away. The closest Chenin in Stellenbosch from the Atlantic. I am grateful to be granted decision making in viticulture at Rustenhof (my philosophies are rooted in working mindful with nature to uplift soil health and increase vine vitality).

Aged in large format concrete on its fermented fine lees for 9 months, where MLF also completed naturally. Bottled Unfiltered and Unfined.

In the cellar, as with my usual approach, I like to keep the purity of the vineyard itself captured as uncompromised as possible. Having my winery nestled close to Sinai Hill we hand harvest the grapes early in the morning and get them in fresh and healthy of the vine. As with all my whites. I tend to make use of pre ferment skin macerations, where I feel it helps as a natural balancing attemp between the lean acidity and texture. No additions here or manupiltaions of the pure grapes, except carefully judged SO2. Long slow spontaneous fermentation till bone dry 2021 (<1,5g/L RS). 2021 is the first time to be put in concrete. Only 50% being de- stemmed and left on the skins to macerate for 2 nights before basket- pressed to further ferment spontaneously in large format concrete tank. The other 50% undergoes a soft wholebunch press, fresh from the vine and also let to ferment in concrete. Juice only given a rough natural settling before racking off for fermentation. My hope is to capture the finer elements of this vineyard more purely, with a focus to attain salinity and texture, fruit definition, some depth of complexity, while retaining the freshness of the cool site.

Bernhard Bredell: Why the name “Scions of Sinai”? Scion = In plant biology referring to the top part of a plant/vine that exists above the ground. We say “The Scion cultivar of that vine is Chenin blanc and the rootstock cultivar is Richter 99″. In old English literature the word “Scion” also refers to “the descendant of…”. Making it applicable to refer to myself as a “scion” from Sinai Hill as well as the vines. Plural “Scions”. Pronounced: SIGH-ENS. Sinai = Referring to Sinai Hill not the famous biblical mountain but the folk name for the foothill in the lower Helderberg region of Stellenbosch where the Bredell’s have farmed with old dryland bushvines for many generations. Luckily some of them are still rooted and a great part of them owned by my cousin Pieter Bredell (also 7th generation Bredell). Pronounced: SIN-EYE. It’s me and these couple of old bushvines… together we are by definition the Scions of Sinai. The descendants of Sinai Hill.