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LAM White 2012

Fresh fruit and acid dominate this old vine Chenin Blanc, Viognier and Chardonnay blend. Low alcohol and natural acidity are key to ensuring that the wine will age. On the nose a sense of coolness is the first impression, then the subtle fresh flavours of Chenin and Viognier become apparent, and the Chardonnay adds a touch of weight. There are none of the typical waxy characters that one normally finds on a Swartland Viognier and Chenin Blanc blend.

variety : Chenin Blanc [ 38% Chenin Blanc, 33% Viognier, 24% Chardonnay ]
winemaker : Craig Hawkins
wine of origin : Swatland
analysis : alc : 10.5 % vol  rs : 1.7 g/l  pH : 3.33  ta : 6.5 g/l  
type : White  style : Dry   wooded
pack : Bottle  closure : Screwcap  

ageing : 8 - 10 years
in the vineyard : Farmed dry-land, thus not irrigated. The Chenin vines are roughly 43 year old bush vines and the vineyard lies on a big bank of hard granite rock which naturally stresses the vines. The Viognier and Chardonnay vines are also on varying degrees of decomposed granite but on opposite slopes of the valley thus different ripening patterns are observed. This creates more to play with in the cellar. There is no specific recipe that we use; each vineyard block is treated according to their strengths and weaknesses. The grapes are hand harvested into small 20kg lugs in the early morning. The vines are farmed organically; the ultimate goal is to use biodynamic principles that work for us on our specific soils/climate.

about the harvest: 2012 was one of the most challenging vintages we have had. Cool dry weather allowed a slow even growing season, but this was abruptly interrupted by severe heat in early January with no rain for 3-4 months. This made conditions extremely difficult and yields were thus naturally low. Important decisions needed to be made in the vineyard of when to harvest the grapes so as to allow enough material to be extracted into the final wine without allowing any unripe or over ripe flavours due to the heat. Luckily all 3 varieties are early ripening and we were able to capture each individual grape without having to sacrifice quality.

in the cellar : The grapes were 100% whole bunch pressed in a small pneumatic or basket press. Juice extraction was kept to a minimum to retain optimal quality juice.

No settling was carried out and no fining agents, enzymes, tannins, acid or SO2 were added at crushing. The juice was allowed to ferment in two 4500L INOX tanks at temperatures of around 20°C thus no cooling was needed during fermentation. The two wines were blended after going dry and racked off their thick lees, but a large amount of lees was still retained to feed the wine. Malolactic fermentation was carried out naturally, this was not a concern as the wine had a large enough natural acidity.
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OTHER VINTAGES

Lammershoek LAM White 2013
Chenin Blanc
LAM White 2012
Chenin Blanc