Chenin blanc, Clairette blanche, Sémillon, Grenache blanc, Roussanne, Verdelho, Viognier, Marsanne, Colombar

“The Aristargos 2025 is again dominated by Chenin blanc and shows our focus on working with Certified Heritage Vineyards (Chenin blanc, Sémillon, Clairette blanche and Colombar). We also keep the backbone of this wine from granitic soils of the Paardeberg. Chenin blanc from shallow shale soils in the Paardeberg and iron rich clay soils to the west of Malmesbury are also added. We still see dry land farmed bush vines deliver high quality wines year after year, and this showcases the ultimate reason why Chenin blanc is our main focus in the Swartland. In total, grapes from 13 different vineyards were used, picked in 18 different lots. The grapes were for the most part whole bunch pressed and naturally fermented and then matured for 11 months in old neutral French oak barrels. After double sorting, both the Colombar and the Sémilllon was separately submerged and soaked on the skins for a week before being pressed off. The Colombar was then matured in old French oak barrels, while the Sémillon was matured in concrete. Two Chenin blanc components were fermented and matured in concrete vessels – one an egg, the other a square tank. Approximately 20% concrete matured in total for 11 months and the rest in old oak.” – Winemaker’s notes