2021 Mother Rock 'Brutal' Chenin Blanc, Swartland, South Africa
2021 Mother Rock 'Brutal' Chenin Blanc, Swartland, South Africa

2021 Mother Rock 'Brutal' Chenin Blanc, Swartland, South Africa

$34.99

Johan was the first South African producer to receive the invite to the exclusive ‘Brutal!’ club of winemakers. Brutal! started from a conversation three winemakers had a few years back (two are Catalan and one is French). The two Catalans, Laureano Serras and Joan Ramon Escoda exclaimed when tasting one of Anthony Tortul’s wines that it was ‘Brutal!’ or as Americans would say ‘dope/kick ass.’ Anthony didn’t get the reference and thought they were saying the wine was garbage. So he made a quick makeshift label with ‘Brutal!’ handwritten and the rest is history. Today ‘Brutal!’ is very much part of the ‘natural’ or ‘raw’ wine movement. The only requirements are that it’s ‘zero/zero’, meaning nothing added and nothing taken out. It also signifies the wine that is an experiment. Johan Meyer a.k.a. Stompie puts his mark on this 100% Chenin Blanc version from a vineyard site near Malmesbury in the Swartland. It joins the vault of ‘Brutal!’ wines made by natural-wine pundits such as Christian Tschida, Valentina Passelacqua, Matassa, and Do.t.e.

The grapes were harvested manually by taste and not Balling reading to insure good mouthfeel of pH and acidity, structure, and aromas. Whole cluster fermentation began 100% oxidatively to add complexity and age-ability. The bunches were lightly crushed by foot with punchdowns once per day for the first ten days of fermentation. After that, it stayed on the skins post-ferment for another two weeks with CO2 protection. It was then basket pressed into one 1600L Concrete Egg for 8 months on the gross lees, after which the wine was racked straight to the bottling line and bottled. No pre-racking or any movement of the wine, no filtering, no fining, and certainly no SO2.

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