While a lot of effort has been made to improve the quality of Chenin Blanc by using existing old vineyards, not much consideration has been given to new plantings in more appropriate cooler areas. Every exciting new vineyard development has Sauvignon Blanc or anything other than Chenin thrust upon it. A single hectare of Chenin was planted on the Springfontein farm near Stanford, Hermanus in 1999. The vines have found their feet in this truly unique environment of active limestone soil 6 km from the sea. The wine was produced from this maiden vintage in the De Trafford Winery, Stellenbosch. It was barrel fermented with natural yeasts in mostly old barrels (including 10% new American oak) and matured for a total of 8 months and bottled unfiltered. This is a great result for this young vineyard and should be an inspiration for others to take Chenin seriously in their planting programmes, especially in high quality, cooler areas. De Trafford Wines Contact: David TraffordTel: +27 (0) 21 880-1611Email: info@detrafford.co.za