Sadie Family Skerpioen Chenin Blanc 2023
Vineyards
Swartland – St. Helena Bay
Winemaking and Maturation
After harvesting the grapes are placed in a cooling room to reduce the temperature, since the average temperatures are often 35 degrees or more – and pressing warm grapes comes with its own series of problems. We then do whole bunch pressing, a process that takes about 3 hours during which time there is a margin of settling of the juice in the collecting tank. The juice is then transferred to two old foudres for fermentation.
Natural fermentation can sometimes take up to 5 days or more to start. It may continue for 1 to 6 months, and sometimes, it only finishes in the following spring, by which time the malolactic fermentation would often have come to completion as well.
Tasting Notes
Skerpioen (Scorpion) is a wine from a very unique location halfway between Dwarskersbos and Elands Bay on the West Coast. One of the most amazing aspects of this location is the fact that the soils are chalky (limestone). In addition to that, it is one of the coolest parts of the Swartland region, located a mere 2km from the Atlantic Ocean, but it is also a very dry area with an average rainfall of around 300mm per year.
This location is home to some of the most intense southeasterly winds, and the old vines look almost abused after being battered by winds and blowing sand for years and years.
Technical Details
Composition: Chenin Blanc
