The Intellego Chenin Blanc is the very first wine that was made under the Intellego label and these grapes are from a vineyard in the South of the Swartland. The label is a picture I took of an abandoned workers house next to the vineyard. These workers contribute massively to the vineyards and work been done there.

The fruit was hand-harvested and whole-bunch pressed with full solids to old 500L French foudres, where it fermented spontaneously. The wine sits sur lie, adding texture but also retaining tension to the final wine, and ages on the gross lees for 11 months. The wine was racked from barrel to tank and bottled without fining or filtration and only a small amount of SO2 added at bottling.

Tasting Notes: The nose is redolent of peach and apple, with hints of earthy hay bale. The palate shows tangy acidity and and excellent stone fruit character. There’s a rounding, mellowing sensation by savory undertones, and the close feels as if someone zipped the whole thing up into a neat, lingering finish.

Grapes from a Paardeberg vineyard planted in 2002. Released last year, time in bottle has done this wine good, the mid-palate having filled out. Pear, peach, soft citrus, hay and some yeasty complexity on the nose. Medium bodied with moderate acidity, pleasantly smooth textured, the finish gently savoury. Alc: 13%. CE’s rating: 92/100.