Painted Wolf 'Lycaon' Old Vine Chenin Blanc

W.O. WELLINGTON

CULTIVARS

Chenin Blanc 100%

ANALYSIS

Alc:13.29 % | R.S: 1.2 g/l | T.A: 5.8g/l | Ph: 3.55

AWARDS

Platter’s Wine Guide 2020: 4 stars

TASTING NOTES

An elegant and subtle wine, with an aroma of peach and hints of salty earthiness. The wine has a creamy finessed texture with a long finish. It is bone dry.

AGEING POTENTIAL

This wine will develop in bottle over the coming 3-4 years, gaining complexity as it develops in bottle.

THE VINEYARD

These grapes were harvested from two adjacent blocks of unirrigated 44 year old vines in the “horse shoe” just above the town of Wellington. The vines grow in Tukulu soil, a well - drained decomposed granite soil, yellow brown in colour. The vineyard is a certified heritage vineyard under South Africa’s Old Vine Project, designed to preserve the surviving old vineyards of South Africa.

WINEMAKING

The fruit was harvested between 23 and 24 balling, whole-bunch pressed and settled before being fermented in barrel and tank with natural wild yeast. The press was very gentle, yielding only around 550 litres of juice per tonne for optimum quality. The wine was matured in both French oak barrels and tank, with one new tight grain 500 litre barrel and two seasoned barrels, plus 700 litres of tank fermented wine. Fermentation was very slow helping build a beautiful texture for the wine.

Total production 2,830 bottles.

THE STORY OF THIS WINE

Having secured grapes from this certified heritage vineyard for the 2019 vintage, Painted Wolf winemaker Jeremy Borg was made aware that there was some 2018 vintage wine available. After tasting, he decided to purchase the wine and bottle this first vintage. This wine was harvested and fermented by Friedrich Kuhne, winemaker and viticulturalist at Welgegund, before being moved to the Painted Wolf cellar where it was further matured and finished off by Jeremy.