Two in a Row for Simonsig at Top 10 Chenin Blanc Challenge

Monday, 31 August, 2015
Simonsig Wine Estate
The 2nd top 10 Chenin Blanc award in as many years. Simonsig Estate from Stellenbosch repeated its performance at last year’s inaugural Standard Bank Top 10 Chenin Blanc Challenge by once again winning one of the 10 awards handed to South Africa’s best Chenin Blanc wines.

This year a Top 10 Chenin Blanc award was presented to Simonsig for the Estate’s Chenin Avec Chêne 2014, Simonsig’s flagship white wine. Last year’s honour went to the Simonsig Chenin Avec Chêne 2010, a far more mature wine. According to the Estate’s white wine maker, Hannes Meyer, it is an enormous honour to once again accept this award for a wine made from a grape variety that has been a part of the Simonsig story since 1968 when patriarch Frans Malan released the farm’s first Chenin Blanc wine.

“If there is one aspect about wine competitions such as the Top 10 Chenin Blanc Challenge, it is that they show the consistency of a winery,” says Meyer. “Winning an accolade like this once is an achievement in itself, but a repeat performance is enormously gratifying as it proves you are no one trick pony. And to do this with Chenin Blanc, which is such an integral part of the Simonsig story, is an added bonus.”

The Chenin Avec Chêne is made from Simonsig’s oldest Chenin Blanc vineyard, one which was planted in 1986.

“Simonsig’s soils of weather shale are ideal for the grapes to express Chenin Blanc characteristics, as the popularity of our Chenins have shown over the past few decades,” says Meyer. “These soils give an intense, perfumed fruit profile and being a wooded wine, the Avec Chêne adds a supple, muscular structure to the flavours, creating a wine of substance with excellent aging potential.

“With the surge in quality South African Chenin Blancs are currently experiencing, Simonsig is humbled by this award, especially as it is only the second time the Top 10 is held. We would like to thank the Chenin Blanc Association and Standard Bank for initiating these awards as they have the potential of contributing to the excitement the wine industry and consumers are showing towards Chenin Blanc.”

The Simonsig Avêc Chene 2014 was barrel fermented in specially imported 400 litre French oak barrels, with a small component of Hungarian wood used, and matured for 10 months. Most of the barrels were 2nd and 3rd fill. “The subtle fruit requires careful handling of oak and six percent of the wine was unwooded to give freshness to the overall complexity. To add to the wine’s mouth-feel regular lees-stirring was done during the early stages of maturation,” he says.

Meyer describes the wine as having a bright, pale golden colour. “Floral and honey notes combine perfectly with the spicy cinnamon sugar and toasty oak aromas fusing in an inviting complex nose. The palate is filled with the mouth-watering flavours of baked apples, dried apricots and pears, with the typical zesty Chenin acidity adding freshness and balance,” he says. “But the most important tasting note is: the Top 10 judges liked it – again!”

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Hannes Meyer white wine maker at Simonsig Estate
Hannes Meyer white wine maker at Simonsig Estate



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