Seriously Cool Chenin Blanc 2025

Seriously Cool Chenin Blanc, Waterkloof, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2025

Grape: 100% Chenin Blanc, old vines, sustainable farming, wild ferment, lees ageing, lightly oaked

Producer Tasting Note:

A bright, vibrant style of Chenin with aromas of citrus, white flowers and a hint of honey. Ripe and full flavoured with a rounded mouthfeel thanks to long fermentation and extended lees contact. Nice concentration of stone fruit characters with hints of dried apricot and mango. Good balancing acidity on the clean, fresh finish.

Crafted from 30-40 year old bush-vine vineyards in the Helderberg area supplemented by fruit from another dry-grown block in Stellenbosch. The vineyards are close to the ocean, which ensure a long growing season and allows for ripe fruit with good concentration and a balanced acidity. Production from this viticultural heritage is a miserly 4 tons/hectare. Waterkloof follow a traditional, minimalistic approach which allows the flavours prevalent in that specific vineyard to ultimately express themselves in the wine. To achieve this, grapes are whole-bunch pressed, ensuring the juice is extracted gently. Allowed to settle for 24 hours, the juice is racked into steel tanks, concrete eggs and older 600L barrels. Wild yeast prevailing in the vineyard then ferments the juice. No additional acid/enzymes were added and the natural fermentation process took 5 months to complete with only a light filtration and the addition of a small amount of sulphur prior to bottling.

Food Match: Great with seafood, pasta, salads, chicken