Monday, 28 September, 2015
Uitkyk Estate
The IWSC is the world’s premier wine competition with wines being judged by a highly-qualified team of experts before being subjected to rigorous microbiological and chemical tests to further ensure that quality is maintained. Chenin Blanc is an important category for South Africa and this year saw almost 70 entries into the competition, making Uitkyk Estate’s success even more marked and impressive.
According to winemaker Estelle Lourens, much of this success belongs to the vineyard itself. The Uitkyk Chenin Blanc comes from a single, north-facing vineyard which was planted thirty-five years ago. The extreme age of these vines causes them to produce very low yields – less than 6 tonnes per hectare – and this is compounded by a total absence of irrigation. Taken together, these factors contribute to very concentrated and full-flavoured grapes which make intense and long-lived wines.
Once in the cellar, Estelle used a combination of techniques at every stage with half the juice undergoing a natural fermentation, half inoculated, half of the wine spending time in French oak barrels (a combination of 1st, 2nd and 3rd fill) and half staying on the lees in a stainless steel tank. The result is a complex wine with many layers of flavour and texture showing lush tropical fruit notes of pineapples and guavas, refreshed by lively, natural acidity and backed up by creamy butterscotch and spicy oak.
According to Estelle, “Stellenbosch is ideal to produce Chenins which can stay fresh and vibrant in the bottle for a number of years.” The combination of warm slopes which ripen the Chenin early and cooling afternoon breezes means the grapes retain much of their natural acidity, making the Uitkyk Chenin Blanc similar in style to Chenins from the Loire Valley in France. “But who needs to drink French Chenin when we are spoiled for so many different styles of South African Chenin!!” laughs Estelle as she savours their recent IWSC success.