Four Swartlanders, four different styles of Chenin Blanc, a variety each believes does well there thanks to cool nights and warm days; its ability to minutely reflect the terroir and the many dry-farmed, old bush vines, harnessing sunshine and transferring it to the glass, a reflection of its happiness in this environment.
Christa von Chevallerie’s Filia is a Cap Classique from Chenin vines her father planted on decomposed granite on their former family farm, Nuwedam; Christa had monitored for the vines for years; "those grapes screamed to be made into a base wine." When another bubbly maker commented chenin would be the last variety to use, the challenge was laid down!
Winemaking is straightforward. Early morning harvest, wholebunch pressing, settling, slow, cold fermentation, followed by a month on the lees before bottling and the bubble-inducing ferment with anything up to 30 months before disgorgement.
Filia, daughter, was also Christa’s father’s name for her; the bubbly from the then 41-year-old vineyard, was the first Cap Classique to receive the Old Vine Project Heritage Seal in 2015.
Jurgen Gouws of Intellego Wines crafts a skin contact Chenin named Elementis. "I was intrigued by the style, the flavours in the skin and given Chenin’s versatility, it made sense. Success arrives with pin-point harvesting and pressing before the skins oxidise, after around two weeks." What about ageing? Jurgen advises it depends on vintage: 2015 is starting to drink well, 2019 already has beautiful fruit. "A Swedish friend helped design the label; ‘it involved much emotion and thinking," Jurgen remembers.
Solera and flor are two words associated with Sherry. Sam Suddons’ Vine Venom Silence isn’t Sherry though it involves both these elements. "Flor is a mystery!" she exclaims, "For me it’s the magic of mother nature". She also admits that once the barrels have flor, "I get to sit back and let it happen!"
The grapes, early picked for a high natural acid, received skin contact In the first 2020 vintage, now they are wholebunch pressed, tank-fermented and racked to larger old French barrels, leaving an open space above the wine. After around two months, a thin layer of flor appears; this natural process continues to thicken over a year into ‘a strange looking white fluffy blanket’. The resulting salty, umami flavours are subtle and don’t overwhelm Chenin’s natural flavours.
Not coming from a winemaking family, Sam wanted an abstract label; this and the others in her range were designed by Cape Town artist, Daniel Levi.
Solera is also the method used for Chris and Andrea Mullineux’s Olerasay, a Straw Wine and well-suited to Swartland’s warm, dry climate. The dried grapes ferment naturally, the wine stopping of its own accord at a point when alcohol and sugar are stable. Ageing in barrels enhances concentration of alcohol, sugar and acid. The process of fractional blending in Olerasay’s solera necessitates the barrels being topped up with young wine; in this way all releases include some of the original wine. To date release of the three bottlings - each containing wine from 2008-2014, 2008-2019 and the current one, 2008-2021 - has been dependent on increased differences in concentration and complexity.
The triangular shape of both label and box represents a solera of stacked barrels; as it’s a protected name, the Mullineux’s came up with Olerasay in reference to the system.
This article was originally published on WOSA's blog, Cape Chatter.