Dirty Little Secret Five

Shellfish, Spicy food, Lean fish, Mild and soft cheese

In 1993 hospitality industry veteran Ken Forrester and his wife Teresa purchased the historic Scholtzenhof estate nestled at the base of the Helderberg in Stellenbosch. Originally established in 1689 as Zandberg the property is one of the oldest wine farms in the Cape. Ken enlisted the help of his winemaker friend Martin Meinert in replanting and revitalizing the vineyards with an aim to craft a white wine that could rival any in the world! And so it was that Ken Forrester Vineyards was established with a focus on Chenin Blanc production.

We searched and searched for a special site planted to venerable old Chenin Blanc vines. It was at 640m above sea level that we settled on this special vineyard. With decomposed table mountain sandstone soils - fine like talcum-powder and no irrigation, huge diurnal temperature range and cool misty mornings being so close to the Atlantic. This bush vine Chenin drew me like a magnet and I knew we could make special wine here. To add to the complexity, I decided to hold back a portion of each vintage and finally after the release of “FOUR” I blended all of the residual parts together as a typical solera. “FIVE” is the solera containing all 8 vintages from 2015-2022, refreshed balanced and blended with our 2023 harvest.