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#362 Strandveld Vineyards Viognier 2023

TECHNICAL SPECS

🔬 Wine of origin Elgin. 70% Viognier : 30% Roussanne. Winemaker Rudi Schultz. The 2022 vintage was one of the fastest ripening seasons that Elgin has seen in decades. This made harvesting at the optimum ripeness quite a challenge. The viognier was harvested at between 21.6 and 23 balling, while the roussanne was harvested at 22.2 and 23.2 balling. Once the fruit was in the cellar, the fruit was pressed, and the juice was inoculated with Lalvin M yeast, by Lallemand. Fermentation took place in barrel.

| Alc 13.0% | RS 2.4g/l | pH 3.29 | TA 6.2 g/l |

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A short history of Viognier in South Africa

Viognier was first planted in South Africa by Charles Back and his team at Fairview estate in the wine region of Paarl. The vines were planted back in the early 1994, but it was only in 1997 that the first vintage was released; just three little barrels of a cultivar that – honestly – at the time, many winemakers in the deep South of the African continent has never heard of.

But it’s anonymity didn’t last long, because almost immediately after its release, the Fairview Viognier won a “Best White Wine of the Year” award, and a decade long wave of interest ensued – albeit admittedly with mixed results.

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Now, if you have yet to sign up for your Monthly HanDrinksSolo Wine Subscription then you won’t be able to taste immediately just how much this category has progressed. But, to tide you over until your track this down, I have left my tasting notes and some technical specs to keep you going:

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TASTING NOTES

👃🏼 The vanguard is delightfully restrained, given the make up of the blend. There’s a hint of slightly salty bread dough, and some smoky, flinty reduction,…then emerging from between those whisps of smoke and flint and lees are some lovely touches of lime leaf, a bit of citrus, and then some more classic stone fruit notes, like white nectarine. And as the wine warms in the glass, these lovely little oak driven hints of smoked walnut, and a touch of nutmeg come out.

👄 This is honestly one of the cleanest, crispest most elegant white wines I’ve had in a while.

There is a pristine lime element, where the acidity just runs for days and days. But it’s not lean/angular acidity. Instead it is delicate and intense all at once, with lovely sweeter hints to it, presenting more like lime cordial than straight eye-watering lime juice. This is all overlaid with fresh tart orange notes, homemade lemonade allusions, and another little burst of lime leaf on the finish.

It’s the sort of wine you want to serve to wine snobs who refuse to drink anything other than chablis. What a win!

A 90-second explainer on reduction in wine

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