Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2022

Concentrated aromas of guava, litchi and sweet melon on the nose with subtle oak notes. On the palate there is ripe fruit with hints of minerality and good combination of oak gives a full but yet elegant finish to the wine.

The grapes for this wine comes from selected “Bush Vine” vineyards in Stellenbosch. The average age of these vines are 35 years and most of them are planted on decomposed granite soils. Owing to the nature of bush vines, careful canopy management was exercised so that no bunches were exposed to excessive sunlight and to ensure even ripening of the grapes. Due to a cool, wet spring, budding was seven to 14 days later than usual, but consistently good and even, promising a great vintage.

The grapes were handpicked early in the morning and immediately crushed into holding tanks. We gave extended (24hours) skin contact to extract all the Chenin flavours to ensure good structure in the final wine with only a very small portion “whole bunch” pressed. Only the free run juice was used and settled for 1 day before inoculation with selected yeast strains. The juice was racked into barrels and Terracotta Amphora for fermentation. No new barrels were used to ensure that unique characters of the specific terroirs were preserved in the wine. After fermentation the wine was aged on the primary lees for another 7 months before being racked out and prepared for bottling.