1974 Old Bush Vine Chenin Blanc

The creamy texture and subtle oak spice of the wine pair wonderfully with the rich, buttery flavours of lobster or shrimp risotto. The stone fruit and apricot notes harmonize beautifully with roasted pork tender loin with an apricot glaze. The wine’s ripe orange citrus and pear nuances is a scrumptious match with butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter. The wine's tropical fruit flavours pairs well with grilled line fish with a citrus and mango salsa.

We believe wines are made in the vineyard. Careful vineyard selection is therefore key to our results. Very close relationships with growers ensure sustainable vineyard practices and deliver consistent quality in the bottle. The role of the viticulturist is to guide our growers to produce the best possible quality fruit. In the ideal world the role of our winemaking team is to capture the essence of the fruit in the bottle. We do not believe in heavily wooded wines and use of “New Oak”. For us a barrel is largely a very practically designed vessel to facilitate the development of the intrinsic qualities of the grapes. So, it is all about the grape. We have access to some of the finest certified old vineyard blocks (older than 35 years) in the Industry. This segment of our business is becoming particularly interesting and we strive to keep these vineyards in the ground.

The 2023 vintage will be remembered for ideal weather conditions and the absence of serious heat waves. The harvest conditions were also extremely favourable until the end of February with stellar grape quality. Grapes were carefully hand-picked at optimal ripeness between 21°B-23°B, split over two picks-first pick for higher natural acidity, and the second pick for texture and mouthfeel.°

Extended ageing on the fine lees for extra texture and mouthfeel, with regular batonage. The total maturation period in these older barrels took place over a period of 11months.

The grapes were de-stalked, crushed and pressed and the juice was fermented in older oak barrels.