Louis Latour Agencies

Celebrate Drink Chenin Day with Morgenhof Estate

28 May 2019

To celebrate Drink Chenin Day on 15^th June we’ve put together a little information on the delicious Chenin Blanc that comes from Morgenhof Estate. This year, on February 12^th, Morgenhof celebrated their 50^th harvest of Chenin.

Chenin Blanc is a grape that has become synonymous with South Africa however, its origins are in the Loire Valley in France. It is a grape variety that can be made into wonderful sparkling wines, delicious dessert wines and everything in between.

Andries de Clerk, Winemaker at Morgenhof, only produces wines from the Estate. Being a traditionalist, he supports terroir-driven wine production. Therefore, they do not irrigate the vineyards, allowing the dry land to contribute to the exceptional quality and concentration of the fruit. This process allows control over the quality of the grapes and he consistently produces World Class Wines. This dry-farming strategy also helps the Chenin variety immensely as the vine tends to produce less flavourful wines if the natural vigour is not controlled.

Morgenhof’s vines are between 46-48 years in age. The wines are planted on W-NW facing slopes at 280-300m and N-NW and at 180-205m above sea level. The soil varies from medium to heavy textured, with a moderate structure and shale mother material.

The grapes are hand-harvested in picking baskets and production is around 1-2 tons per hectare. The juice begins fermentation in stainless steel tanks before being transferred to barrel. After undergoing malolactic fermentation after which the wine spends 9 months in 225 litre French oak barrels.

This produces a wine that has a wonderful expression of refreshing pear, apricot and citrus flavours well integrated with French oak. On the finish there is a lingering sensation of dried fruit and soothing creaminess.