Bruce Jack wine of the week: Chenin Blanc

Many of you may know it is also known as Steen here, so called because it is the versatile cornerstone of the South African wine industry.

Over the years we have made from brandy to bottle-fermented sparkling wine, a sweet dessert wine and everything in between from Chenin. Perhaps my favourite style as we head into summer here is the crisp, dry, zippy almost Sauvignon Blanc-like style of the Bruce Jack Lifestyle Chenin Blanc – a perfect way to celebrate the Christmas break we are all so looking forward to.

And for Christmas lunch over-indulgence I’ll be cracking open a bottle of the rich, luscious and bold Heritage Range Boer maak ‘n Plan barrel-fermented, old vine Chenin from a single Breedekloof vineyard near Rawsonville. But for New Year’s eve you will find me starting the lamb spit at around 12pm with a glass of the Bruce Jack Ghost in the Machine Skin Fermented Chenin – from our chief winemaker, Marlize Beyer’s family farm, Roodeberg against the majestic Olifantsberg, also in the Breedekloof.

There are very few varieties that can make such a range of wines so well, especially from one country. Why is this important? Chenin is a variety that we pin a lot of our hopes on as winemakers, and a lot of our pride on in South Africa.

Holiday reading with Jack Journal Volume 3

It’s the quintessential South African fabric. Originally only available in an indigo blue hue, shweshwe now comes in brown, red, yellow and other vibrant tones. Fiona McDonald looks at this material’s interesting history and popularity.

In the dim and distant days of English grammar lessons, onomatopoeia was a fiendishly difficult word to spell. Understanding it was so much easier: it’s a word that mimics the sound of the object or action it refers to.

Read Fiona McDonald's 'Shweshwe swish and sniff' for Jack Journal Vol 3 HERE