Cat’s Cradle

Pair with rich fish or cream-based chicken entrées.

Swartland Chenin blanc needs no introduction, having long assumed its place among the world's key expressions of the grape variety. Here we have pulled together a collection of old vine vineyards from the Swartland on predominantly granite derived soils. Granite gives us a clear and pristine expression of Chenin blanc, while the more iron-rich soils bring waxy, yellow fruit and generosity. An enormous amount of work goes into the vineyard during the growing season to ensure that the vines can carry a healthy and balanced crop. Picking is done with a clear eye on the acidity of the crop which can fall away dramatically during the harvest due to the paucity of the granite based soils.

The approach in the cellar is pure simplicity. The grapes are whole-bunch pressed in our Vaslin press (a big horizontal basket with two plates). No SO2 is added to the juice. A rough settling follows pressing after which the wines undergo natural alcoholic and malolactic fermentation in old oak barrels. We add some sulphur dioxide late int he winter and then again at bottling, keeping the level of SO2 as low as possible. The result is a wine that shows tension without losing its suppleness and core, and one that will reward time in the cellar.

Thorne and Daughters is a Western Cape wine producer founded by John and Tasha Seccombe in 2012. Working with old vineyard parcels and distinctive Cape varieties, the range is known for honest, gently made wines that bring old-school simplicity, modern detail and a strong sense of place.