Chenin Blanc, The Bear Wines, Voor-Paardeberg, South Africa

Tasting Note

A fruit-forward, refreshing Chenin Blanc offering flavours of white peach and citrus notes.

Unbaked a cold-fermented to maintain a vibrant freshness from these old vines.

Grapes

100% Chenin Blanc.

How to Drink

Pair with lighter dishes such as prawn risotto, lemon roasted chicken or soft cheeses.

Producer Information

The Bear Wines are a range from South Africa's Vondeling Wines who are located on a historic farm on the Voor-Paardeberg mountain. The mountain location provides excellent sunlight and clay-rich soils, contributing to wine softness and vibrancy from the south-facing vineyards.

As a destination Vondeling includes a historic Cape Dutch homestead and St Clement’s Chapel; a consecrated church. There are breathtaking views of mountains and vineyards in every direction. It’s a privilege to be able to view the surrounding landscape from the highest peak of the Paardeberg where you’ll find one of the Cape’s original Signal Cannons, which was once used to communicate to farmers that a ship had arrived in Cape Town’s Table Bay Harbour.

The first vintage of Vondeling wines made from their own grapes was in 2005. There are now approximately 100 hectares of vineyard, mostly planted to Mediterranean varietals in granitic soils. The older vineyards, which include Sauvignon Blanc planted in 1983 and Chenin Blanc in 1986, have come into perfect balance over the years and provide some of the most valuable fruit, averaging crop yields of between six to eight tons per hectare.

There’s a 50/50 red to white varietal ratio in the plantings - 

White wine varieties: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Muscadel, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Semillon, Roussanne.

Red wine varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Grenache Noir, Merlot, Mourvèdre, Shiraz.

Production Information

Minimal intervention during the winemaking process ensures wines with a unique ‘fingerprint’ of origin. The day’s fruit, carefully picked in the cool of the early mornings, is transported to a refrigerated storeroom where the grapes are cooled down to 6°C. This is followed by destemming and berry sorting by hand. The winery, a cleverly converted milking shed, is equipped with a raised trussed ceiling and open-top stainless steel tanks for extra gentle handling of fruit. Separate vinification of specific blocks and natural fermentations are an integral part of the process. Basket pressing, hand plunging, minimal filtering and no fining also feature in the hands-on approach.

Older wines are matured in first-, second- and third-fill French oak barrels in the atmospheric barrel maturation cellar with its thick clay walls and rietdak ceiling. Younger wines such as The Bear Chenin are cold-fermented in stainless steel tanks before bottling.