Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Chenin Blanc 2023

The grapes were picked separately between 21 and 23°balling, reductively crushed and the resulting juice given 12 -18 hours skin contact prior to settling. After only 1 day of settling, the slightly turbid juice was racked off its gross lees to a stainless-steel tank where it was inoculated with selected slow fermenting yeast strains. The juice was then gravity fed into 400l French oak barrels and 2 x 500l Italian Terracotta Amphora and, for the first time at Kleine Zalze, concrete eggs for fermentation. No new oak was used to preserve the delicate flavours of Chenin blanc. The wine spent an extra 8 months on the lees in the respective fermentation vessels, with no fining or filtration before bottling.

The Family Reserve Chenin Blanc 2022 was crafted from three different wards and soils (Decomposed Granite, Oakleaf and Duplex) in Stellenbosch, each contributing to the complexity of the wine. 2022 is also the first vintage of Family Reserve to be certified as made from Heritage Vineyards. The canopy of the bush vines was suckered and tipped to ensure a cool microclimate around the bunches with no direct sun and without botrytis. Due to a cool, wet spring, budding was seven to 14 days later than usual, but consistently good and even, promising a great vintage.

Enjoy now or age up to 15 years at optimum storage conditions.

Chenin Blanc

With both savoury and fruit notes this wine is a very versatile wine to enjoy with food, but be assured the mouth filling. Great with grilled fish and salads. Salty cheese such as pecorino, Grana padano, halloumi or gorgonzola.

The grapes for this wine comes from selected “Bush Vine” vineyards in Stellenbosch. The average age of these vines are 30 years and most of them are planted on decomposed granite soils. Owing to the nature of bush vines, careful canopy management was exercised so that no bunches were exposed to excessive sunlight and an even ripening of the grapes. The grapes were handpicked early in the morning and immediately crushed into holding tanks. For a change Stellenbosch had a normal winter in 2020. Cold and very wet and even a little bit of snow on the mountains. Summer started a bit later than normal and thus the ripening was delayed by about ten days. It was a very moderate but dry summer, exactly what we want for quality wine production.