2019 Lourens Family Wines 'Blouklip Steen' Contermanskloof Chenin Blanc, Western Cape, South Africa

2019 Lourens Family Wines 'Blouklip Steen' Contermanskloof Chenin Blanc, Western Cape, South Africa

$45.00

Each vintage Franco has identified a specific Chenin Blanc parcel that has really stood out and vinifies that lot on its own rather than co-fermenting or blending it into ‘Lindi Carien’. The challenges of 2019 were apparent in Piekenierskloof with hardly any fruit due to drought, but this block really shined. It was a ripe vintage and the sugar levels were quite high early on. The Contermanskloof vineyard was planted with bushvine Chenin Blanc in 1977 on decomposed blue slate and shale soils. The vineyard is located in the Durbanville ward, within the Cape Town suburbs and roughly six miles from the Atlantic Ocean and that influence is what helps the grapes retain their acidity.

The grapes were handpicked and hand sorted at the winery. Then the bunches are left intact and whole-bunch pressed and after a very light settling racked to older French barriques where the wine ferments on lees. Weekly battonage is implemented with the wine not seeing a racking until bottling. After 10 months in wood the wine is then racked to tank and bottled without fining and only a very coarse filtration.

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