94 Vinous
The 2022 Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch comes from vines on Greywacke, shale and granite soils planted between 1972 and 1981, whole cluster pressed and aged in oval Austrian foudres. This has a little more presence on the nose and is more outgoing with yellow plum, nectarine, peach skin and hints of red fruit. There is real complexity, becoming ever more minerally with aeration. The palate is very well-balanced with a little more viscosity and lees expression, lightly spiced with a vivacious saline finish. There is a sense of completeness here. Superb. – By Neal Martin on August 2023

Our Tasting Note: A medium lemon-yellow color. The pronounced nose has fresh apples and spring stone fruits like peach and nectarine, a touch of lanolin, subtle baking spices sit pretty far in the background as the minerality holds the most sway here after the fruit, showing up as salinity and crushed stones. Med/med+ bodied with mouthwatering medium+ acidity, the intense palate is long, fresh and layered, textural. An excellent wine!

Vineyards: Damascene Stellenbosch Old Vine Chenin Blanc is a blend of fruit from three sites in the Bottelary ward: Sonop, Houmoed, and Mooiplaas. All three of these sites are situated on hilltops at between 325 and 340m ASL. On the southern end, the Mooiplaas vineyard was planted in 1981, on granitic soils. In contrast, the Houmoed vineyard planted nine years earlier grows in Greywacke soils. Finally, the Sonop vineyard to the north was planted into shales soils in 1982; making it the youngest of the three vineyards, at a spritely 41 years of age (at the time of the 2023 harvest).

Winemaking: After being harvested by hand, grapes were chilled overnight at 8C. In the cellar, whole clusters were sorted and pressed with a delicate champagne-cycle, and then allowed to settle overnight. The juice was transferred to 1000L oval Austrian oak foudres for fermentation. Lighter, more fluid lees were allowed to be transferred with the juice, and remained there during fermentation. This significantly increasing turbidity levels; creating what is termed a dirty ferment. No enzymes were added during pressing, and minimal sulphur was used throughout vinification. Only native yeasts were involved in the making of our wines, and most of the batches only saw sulphur for the first time just before bottling in January. This wine features some truly outstanding natural acidity, so we prevented malolactic conversion, as this would only serve to obscure that brightness. We also refrained from any batonnage (for the same reason). The final wine was matured sur lie for 11 months in 1000L Oval Austrian oak vats at 6-8C.