It’s Really All About The Vineyards
Circumstance Chenin Blanc is produced from low-yielding, ocean-facing bush vines, situated just 5 kilometers as the crow flies from the Atlantic. These conditions ensure a cooler and longer growing season and allow for ripe fruit with good concentration and higher natural acidity. The soils are of sandstone origin, with medium-sized stones helping with drainage. They also have a very good ability to retain moisture. Production was just 2 tons/ha.
At Waterkloof, we use regenerative methods based on Old World, sustainable practices in our vineyards to ensure that the vines are nourished, healthy and in balance. Our soils are free of chemicals and are kept healthy by using plant extracts, fungi and bacteria from our own organic compost. These vineyard practices, allied with a natural approach to winemaking, give us wines that truly reflect the terroir and the vintage.
A Gentle Hand
The winemaking philosophy is the same for all of Waterkloof’s premium white wines. We follow a traditional, minimalistic approach which means that we interfere as little as possible with the winemaking process. This allows the flavours prevalent in that specific vineyard to be expressed in the bottle. All grapes are hand-picked to ensure that only the finest berries are brought to the cellar by our horses. We harvest according to taste and spend most of our time in the vineyards to see how the flavours develop. All grapes are sorted by hand and then whole-bunch pressed in our modern basket press to extract the juice in the gentlest way. The juice is then settled naturally for around 12 hours, after which it is racked from the settling tank into 600-liter barrels. The naturally occurring yeasts or “wild yeasts” are allowed to start the fermentation process. This leads to a longer fermentation process with a slow release of aromas and a more structured palate. The natural fermentation process took 4 months to complete and we then left the wine on the gross lees for a further 6 months. We do not employ battonage nor do we add any acid or enzymes during the winemaking process, with only a light filtration and a small addition of sulphur added as a preservative prior to bottling.
And A Few Prayers To Mother Nature- 2023/2024 Growing Season
We were happy with excellent Winter conditions during 2023 season -receiving over 1000 mm of rain in 2023 but also saw extreme flooding during this period. The Winter days and nights were nice and cool to ensure that the vines were able to go into a proper dormancy. The dams were replenished and the groundwater reserves looked good.
Once Spring came a long it was accompanied by strong winds and consistently warmer days. Véraison was also about 10 days earlier than in 2022. The strong winds affected fruit set as well as the vineyard canopies and we could see that the vines were stressed.
We started picking our earlier blocks at around the 3rd week of January. From the beginning of February the temperatures normalised and we only finished picking during the first week of March.
We saw a lot of bunches on the vines but the berries were tiny. With these tiny berries comes lovely concentration and bright acids. This vintage is definitely smaller but it is packed full of flavour.
A Tasting Note from The Glass of Nadia Langenegger
A rich and structured Chenin wine with prominent stone fruit notes such as white pears, honey, florals and a slight hint of raisins. The palate has great length, lovely roundness and balanced acidity that adds to the complexity. Enjoy it with a variety of foods especially spicy seafood curries.
The Numbers (6292 bottles made)
Alc: 14 %
RS: 3,6 g/l
TA: 5,29 g/l
pH: 3.3