AA Badenhorst Dassiekop Steen 2019

Vineyards and vines: . Dassiekop is found high on the Paardeberg mountain and was planted on steep terraces in the early 1970’s by the father of my neighbour, Pierre Rossouw on the farm Uitkyk.  Steep terraces and bands of fynbos make this vineyard look as if it was meant to be there.

Grapes: Chenin Blanc 100%

Vinification: The vinification is quite straight-forward when you are working with fantastic grapes from old vineyards. The vineyard yields around 0.5 tons/ha. The grapes are pressed and run off into older casks for fermentation and ageing.

Maturation: We only use old 1200 litre foudres for the fermentation and maturation of 15 months. After this, the wine is are racked and bottled. However in 2016 we produced only 200 litres from this vineyard and all the wine was bottled in 3 litre bottles – a total of 46 bottles!

Analysis Alcohol 14.50 vol% Residual Sugar 3.0 g/l Ph 3.26 Total Acidity (Tartaric) 5.2g/l Total sulphur 90 ppm

For me the this is the finest Chenin Blanc or Steen vineyard and site in the Swartland. The rare combination of the perfect match between site, variety and age of vines is truly expressed in this wine. Exceptional mouthfeel, texture, freshness and concentration of fruit are the norm from this site. This wine is not released annually.