The fruit for this wine is grown in a single block of old, unirrigated bush vine Chenin on the foot slopes of the Helderberg Mountain, facing South East across False Bay. These vines grow high on a steep slope in slightly decomposed granite soils with patches of pure quartz near the top. These gnarled, old vines never yield a big crop (35hL/Ha or 5t/Ha), but because of this, the berries and bunches are small and the fruit is wonderfully concentrated.

Some of the grapes were whole bunch pressed, some skin macerated and the free-run juice was settled for two days before being poured into barrel. Alcoholic fermentation was carried out entirely in old oak barrel (using only natural ambient yeast) for 8 – 10 weeks under cool conditions (fermentation peaking at about 18°). Malolactic fermentation was inhibited by the cold. The wine was kept on its primary lees throughout maturation, racked out of barrel after about 9 months, assembled and then settled for a month.

Pear, Gorgonzola and walnut risotto, seafood, salmon, poultry or hard cheeses