South Africa, Stellenbosch
Chenin Blanc
Description
The Houmoed Chenin Blanc shows bee’s wax/dried peach on the nose, along with almonds & marzipan from the barrels, good weight on the palate with some minerality and a long finish. Fruit and oak well balanced, a big wine with the typical mouthfeel of ripe Chenin.
Awards
4 stars Platter's South African Wine Guide
Bronze Decanter Medal
Bronze Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show
Certificates
Alcohol
13.5%
Analytical data
dry
Vinification
An outstanding vintage, no heat waves and low night temperatures together with a dry summer and some welcoming rain in February, provided flavourful grapes with 15% botrytis. Six hours skin contact, juice cleaned by settling, fermented with four different yeast strains and aged in barrel for 9 months Extended lees contact was allowed, Bâtonnage once a week. No stabilization and a rough filtration prior to bottling.
Vineyard: Houmoed Vinyard
Grapes from the 2 ha Houmoed single vineyard, planted by NJ Roos in 1972. Dry land bush vine at 290 m above sea level on a lovely site in the Bottelary Hills overlooking both False Bay and Table Bay, on a south-west facing slope. (Note - the word Houmoed is Afrikaans for “to keep faith, or to persevere”). Training method: Bush vines
Soil Type
Oakleaf, high potential soil
Viticulture
Bush vines, dryland, hand picked, best of the blocks, grapes are chosen for the Houmoed Chenin Blanc
Maturation
9 months aged in 70% French and 30% Hungarian, 3 and 4th fill oak barrels
