in the cellar : The quality of our Chenin Blanc can be attributed to access to some remarkable old vineyards in the premium wine growing area of Stellenbosch. The vineyards have been carefully selected because of their sites on a variety of soils and their varied exposure to the sun. Aside from their variety, these vineyards also have great deal in common - all are either fully mature or of venerable age and are found high on hillside slopes, carefully and meticulously tended, and producing only very low yields.
The 1998 vintage in South Africa was notable for heatwaves during the harvesting season. At Old Vines Wine Cellars careful harvesting meant that grapes were picked on cooler days between these heatwaves, but in order to protect them further from any damage one particularly precious vineyard was harvested with "snow shooting". In this process snow flakes of frozen carbon dioxide were sprayed over the freshly harvested grapes to cool and protect them from the heat on the journey to the cellar, an hours drive away. Thanks to this technique our grapes arrived in the cellar fresh and cool, in pristine condition, despite the summer heat.
Slow pressing was followed by fermentation at low tempretures in stainless steel with an extended period on the lees to add richness and weight. Harvesting at varying degrees of ripeness and keeping the wine from each vineyard separately allows for selection of only the best for final blending. The wine is 100% chenin blanc with a small proportion showing botrytis or noble rot character for added complexity. This is not easily detectable in the young wine but intensifies after some time in bottle.