Appearance: The Stellenbosch Chenin is a pale lemon colour, indicative of its youth, with oak playing a supporting role by looking at the colour, following South Africa’s trademark for refined Chenin Blancs that hero’s fruit.
Nose: The Chenin has a medium-plus intensity with a prominent creamy note reminiscent of lemon curd and meringue. Gently swirling the wine, it shares provocative notes of honeysuckle, baby apricots, and custard apple’s sweet tropical smell, adding a hint of vanilla bean. A subtle reminder of lemon thyme hovers around the top notes with the delicate aroma of crushed hazelnuts. Still, the wine is primary driven, supported by the subtle richness of secondary post-fermentation aromas, with the prospects of more plush aromas developing with age.
Palate: A signature of the Harry Hartman wines, it takes no prisoners in asserting itself with typicity, owning all the commanding characters associated with Chenin Blanc. The wine is dry with a perceived sweetness adding a liberal expression of ripe stone fruit. Then, the well-rounded and integrated acidity adds definition and poise, guiding abundant favours of apple, nectarine, cling peaches, and melon over the palate with a welcoming bite of grapefruit pith adding a salty trail. The wine is medium bodied with a rich texture, adding more volume and weight, allowing it to subtlety and slowly dissipate on the palate.
THE STORY BEHIND THE LABEL | CHURCH
A place where people go to be together, united in purpose, to seek refuge, guidance, peace. Sometimes to celebrate and sometimes to mourn. Sometimes simply because it’s Sunday. Always together. We honour these places and all of the reasons people congregate. May we find our way together. It is always exciting to compare Chenin Blanc’s expressions from different terrains. The church sketched on the Stellenbosch Chenin is the old Lutheran Church on Dorp Street, an iconic Stellenbosch street. Here heritage meets with contemporary and devotion is found and practised in both.
