The Luddite Chenin is a real “push the boat out” wine. We really want to express the nature of Chenin Blanc in the Bot River area, so both batches were fermented naturally on skins with a morning and evening punch down. After fermentation, the grapes were pressed and racked with lees and sediment to barrel. I feel by doing this we have allowed the wine to express richer flavour and a fuller structure. We used old ba:rels to allow the natural grape expression to come through. The wine was left on lees for 12 months with regular batonnage - no sulphur was added to allow the wine to develop its own characteristics without any intervention. The two batches were blended and then bottled and we are very excited with the result.
After maturation, the wine was racked and blended together, given a rough filtration and the sulphur was adjusted to protect it through the bottling process, Due to the absolute natural winemaking, the wine shows reductive notes on the nose. These reductive flavours will however dissipate over time.
Tasting Notes
Appearance
Rich, pale straw glow.
Nose
It starts off a bit reductive i.e. flinty struck match and wet dog, then opens up to reveal beautiful peach and apricot aromatics with hints of honey, cinnamon and spice coming to the fore.
Palate
Rich, mouth filling entry with yellow peach, melons, raisins and spice. Good fruit sweetness balanced by clean, citrus tones create a beautifully balanced wine with a refreshing finish.
Grapes were sourced from two vineyard sites
Luddite Farm harvested on 18th February 2014.
Van Der Stel Pass, Avontzon Farm 40 - 60 year old vines harvested on 18th March 2014.
Average analysis of fruit at harvest
21.25° Balling, TA - 6.7 g/l,pH - 3.3
Analysis of the wine
Alcohol: 12.91%
pH:3.49
TA:5.7 g/l
RS: 2.1 g/l
3850 bottles of this vintage were produced.
Download PDF