Rocinante

Shellfish, Lean fish, Mild and soft cheese

2021 as a vintage seemed to play out as promising from the start. Fair weather, no heatwaves and dry ripening conditions with notably cooler nights. Chenin blanc showed good balance between acidity and ripeness. Grenache blanc and Roussanne ripened well and even with healthy flavourful skins.

In the cellar I favour the purity of these vineyards and keep captured as uncompromised as possible. All three of these vineyards are on Cape Granite soils. The Chenin blanc, from old dryfarmed vines on Klein Helderberg. The Grenache blanc and Roussanne from the Voor Paardeberg. Fermentations are spontaneous. No additions here or manupiltaions of the pure grapes, except carefully judged SO2. MLF also takes place spontaneously in the long barrel ageing. 3 equal parts of these varieties were used and 100% was destemmed before basket pressed. No new oak. Bottled Unfiltered and Unfined.

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.