Tasting Notes
The vibrant nose of this wine reveals aromas of peaches, citrus, pears, and slight hints of sweet oak-derived vanilla characters. These all pull together and follow through beautifully on the palate and ensure a long and well- balanced finish.
Winemaker's Notes
The grapes for this wine were carefully identified from three special rows in this vineyard as indicated in bronze on the bottle.
The grapes were hand-picked in the early morning, hand sorted before gentle destemming and crushing, and settling over three days. The juice was partly naturally fermented and partly with carefully selected wine yeast in three barrels.
One 500L Hungarian oak, one 500L French, both third fill, and one 300L French 10th fill.
After two days of settling, clean juice was racked into 2x500L barrels, half French, half Hungarian, and 1x300L French oak barrel with little to no toasting. Fermentation occurred in barrels and malolactic fermentation followed after which the wine was aged in barrels for a further 8 months before racking a slight filtration, and bottling in December 2019.
Serving Suggestion
Creamy Penne Pasta with Mushrooms and Gammon.
Varietal: 100% Chenin Blanc
ALC: 12.39% | pH: 3.4 | RS: 2.5 g/l | TA: 6.0 g/l
Awards
Riviersteen 2016 | Top Chenin blanc in Region: SA Terroir Wine Awards 2018 Top 12: Quest For The Best 2018 |
Riviersteen 2017 | 95 Points: Greg Sherwood MW 2019 Trophy: Best Single Vineyard Wine Terroir 2019 National Winner: Best Chenin Blanc SA – Terroir 2019 |
Riviersteen 2019 | Tim Atkin 92 points |