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Spioenkop ‘Johanna Brandt’ Chenin Blanc 2019

R360.00

Region: Elgin

Tasting note:

“Well worth drinking alongside Spioenkop’s Sarah Rall Chenin Blanc to see the influence of different soil types, Johanna Brandt comes from shale and is a broader, richer, more concentrated wine with wild yeast complexity, pear and stone fruit flavours and a long, mealy finish.” Tim Atkin MW

“Grapes from a vineyard on shale. Matured for 11 months in older oak. Some reduction before citrus, peach and herbs plus some subtle yeasty, wet wool notes. Powerful with a hit of sweet fruit on entry before the zippy acidity kick in, the finish dry. Idiosyncratic as Roose’s wines so often are. Alc: 14.13%.” CE

 

2 in stock.
As our stock is sold through our two retail outlets and online, stock levels are provided as a guide only and are liable to change.

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Belgian-family-owned Spioenkop’s vineyards and cellar, named for the Anglo-Boer War hilltop battleground was established in 2008. Nestled in the heart of the Elgin Valley, surrounded by a craggy fringe of mountains, the vineyard is on a plateau where nowhere is below 200m above sea level. Temperatures here are about three degrees lower than surrounding areas, and the valley often funnels cooling sea breezes from the Atlantic a few kilometres away. The geography and the climate mean that rainwater is retained in the clay soils mixed with iron-rich ferricrete cobbles and shales, and it is in these nutrient poor soils that the vines are planted.
Terroir expression is paramount in the Spioenkop range. There is a minimalist approach in the cellar and no irrigation in the vineyards.
The two new single-site Chenin Blancs are particularly interesting – the ‘Sarah Raal’ is from ferricrete soils and the ‘Johanna Brandt’ is from shale. Brilliant, fine examples of cooler-climate South African Chenin Blanc.
The story behind the name: When Pretoria was conquered by the English during the Anglo-Boer War, Johanna Brandt (being Dutch / part of the Boers) served as a nurse. As such she organised women to spy on British officers, which information served the Boers in the guerilla that took place at that moment.