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00:00 – INTRO

00:35 – WHERE IS WILDEBERG WINE ESTATE?

01:32 – WHAT DOES THE WINE TASTE LIKE IN THE GLASS?

03:12 – CHENIN BLANC IS LIKE CLINT EASTWOOD

04:13 – THE IMPORTANCE OF GRENACHE BLANC AND CHENIN BLANC IN THE FACE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

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Wildeberg’s Coterie Range is one of the Franschhoek Valley’s best kept secrets. They regularly work with certified heritage vineyards (Old Vine Blocks), and employ unusual cultivars like Semillon, Petit Sirah and Grenache Blanc. But outside of their intellectual intrigue, they are also happen to be jolly good at what they do.

Winemaker JD Russouw and his team are kept very busy producing three distinct wine ranges (the Wildeberg Franschhoek range, the Wildeberg Coterie Range, and the Wild House Lifestyle range), as well as some slightly geekier bottlings produced under the banner of “Strange Kompanjie Wines”, including a Petit Sirah, and an Old Vine white blend consisting of Crouchen Blanc, Chenin & Grenache Gris.

Today’s wine is a blend of Old Vine Chenin Blanc and Grenache Blanc, which – if you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription – is well worth hunting down in your own time. Not least of all, because it showcases the future potential partnership of these two drought resistant cultivars in a region that is becoming increasingly hot and dry. Here are my tasting notes and some technical specs:

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👃🏼 The vanguard carries a generous nose of tangerine peel, peach fruit, saline, lime, and some hints of fynbos and gravel dust.

👄 The mouthfeel is quite special, in that it manages to carry concentration, and that sense of old vine texture, but ALSO lovely slick viscous mouthfeel, couching fruit elements of fresh cut oranges, and sunshine nectarine.

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🔬 Wine of Origin Western Cape. 67% Old vine Chenin Blanc from Franschhoek. 33% younger Grenache Blanc vines from Paarl. Both components are fermented in old oak barrels, emplying spontaneous fermentation. The barrel regime is made up of 65% second-fill barrels, and 35% third-fill barrels (600 litre)