Arendsig Inspirational Batch 3 Chenin Blanc 2018
When your friends know you, and gift you Chenin 'just because'.
It was a Friday afternoon, and I got a Whatsapp from G asking what I thought of this wine. Little did I know that he was planning on picking this up to give to me...on HIS birthday! Silly lemon! But super thoughtful, all the same. The funny thing was that part of his gift came from the same wine store...so we exchanged gifts with identical packaging!
The Wine:
Pale lemon with a pronounced nose of apricots, orange peel, yellow apple, pineapple, honeycomb and almonds.
Dry, medium body, medium+ acidity, medium- finish. The pineapple, orchard fruits and honey repeat on the palate, along with some stony minerality.
Viti + Vini:
The single vineyard, 25 year old Chenin is grown in clay soils between the Langeberg and Riviersonderend Mountains in Robertson. The area experiences a large diurnal range, cooled by morning fog in winter, and South Easterly breezes from the ocean in summer. Made using minimal interference, the wine is naturally fermented using no enzymes, and is matured for 10 months in 300L and 500L neutral casks.
Conclusion:
Balance (1) + Length (½) + Intensity (1) + Complexity (½) = A good wine.
Can be drunk now, but suitable for further ageing.
Final Thoughts:
I was interested to find out that waxed cork tops are used to reduce oxidation which means less sulphur needs to be used. I didn’t realise that wax can be used for this purpose, I'd always assumed it was for aesthetic reasons.
