False Bay Chenin Blanc 2015

Name: False Bay Chenin Blanc 2015
Brand: False Bay
SKU: 39320

A well balanced Chenin Blanc showing fresh notes of lime and stone fruit and with a prominent minerality on the nose, great structure and a bright acidity which helps to carry the generous mouth feel. The extended wild yeast fermentation ensures a wine with complexity and great length.

A versatile wine equally well suited to partner dishes like seafood risotto or roast chicken.

variety : Chenin Blanc [ 100% Chenin Blanc ]

winery : Waterkloof

winemaker : Nadia Barnard

wine of origin : Western Cape

analysis : alc : 13.21 % vol rs : 5.4 g/l pH : 3.39 ta : 4.6 g/l

type : White style : Dry body : Medium wooded

pack : Bottle size : 750ml closure : Screwcap

ageing : Drink now!

It’s Really All About The Vineyards
Chenin Blanc is regarded as the workhorse of the South African wine industry. It produces the bulk of our generic white wines. There are however some gems in between the mass of Chenin vineyards. Our goal is to identify these gems and allow them to be expressed in our False Bay Chenin Blanc.

We focus on areas that have long stood out for producing great Chenin Blanc grapes and believe that the older vines in The Swartland region have a lot to offer. Over time, old bushvine vineyards have found their natural balance, which ultimately shows in the wines.

in the vineyard : And A Few Prayers To Mother Nature: The 2014/15 Growing Season
The 2014 winter was optimal with sufficient rain to fill the dams and provide enough cold units in July to have the vines in full dormancy. From August the temperatures started to rise slowly and spring arrived early with flowering occurring under ideal conditions, which ensured even ripeness, an excellent contribution to quality.

We saw slightly windy conditions during this stage, which resulted in looser bunches and helped to attain lower yields and more concentration. Rainfall decreased dramatically from September, with warm, dry weather and less strong winds than usual. Throughout the growing season temperatures remained moderate, with intermittent hot days. Veraison started about 2 weeks earlier than usual. For the rest of the growing season we saw little rain which resulted in very low disease pressure. Even though the days were warm we noticed that the evenings cooled down very nicely.

The 2015 harvest was the earliest to date. We started picking approximately two weeks earlier than usual due to the early flowering in spring, but hang time was sufficient to allow phenolic ripeness. The quality of the fruit was exceptional: low pH, high acidity and clean fruit with little to no rot.

about the harvest: Picking early in the morning.

in the cellar : A Gentle Hand
We de-stemmed the grapes before pressing. The free run juice was separated from the skins immediately and allowed to settle at 12°C for 24 hours. No enzymes were used to aid the settling and the press juice was discarded. No cultured yeasts were used and the natural yeast fermentation took 8 months to complete. The wine was then left on the secondary lees for another month before bottling.

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