The LABEL: This photo was taken by friend and artist Mzu “Deff Eff” Ntantiso. Mzu was first inspired “into” wine by one of our earlier vintages in 2014. He has always wanted to be on one of our labels and when he sent us this, it was a no brainer. We love it.

From 1972-planted Chenin Blanc in Joubertskloof on the Paardeberg, this is a wine of depth, tension and remarkable salinity. Matured in 500l French oak barrels and stainless steel for 6 months before blending and further maturation in old oak Foudre for an additional 9 months.

Balanced and persistent on the finish. Dry-farmed bush vines. Whole-bunch pressed and spontaneously fermented using indigenous yeasts in a mix of old oak foudres and stainless steel, undergoing natural full malolactic fermentation. Unfined, unfiltered, and made with minimal sulfur additions.  The wine was kept on its gross less for 17 months.

This wine tends to be tightest, most closed, and mineral-driven of the Testalonga Chenins. It features haunting aromatics of lime, peach, potpourri, and dried herbs, balanced by great purity, precise fruit concentration, a racy, low-pH linear acidity, and a long, pithy, saline finish

Tasting Notes: Aromas of ripe yellow apple, mirabelle plum, nectarine, and baked lemon unfold gracefully, layered with delicate hints of smoke, saline minerals, and subtle dried herbs. On the palate, the wine is creamy yet precise, driven by a tight, energetic core of citrus and racy, low‑pH acidity. The finish is persistent and savoury, leaving a refined impression of mineral tension and complexity.

‘From a Paardeberg vineyard planted in 1972. Sixty percent matured in old 500-litre barrels, with the remainder in stainless steel before a further nine months in foudre. The nose is strikingly perfumed, with potpourri, dried herbs, pear, peach and green apple. The palate shows excellent fruit concentration, its acidity finely integrated, before a pithy finish. Poised and intensely flavoured, this is a wine of very clean lines that goes on and on. Alc: 12%. CE’s rating: 98 | “Serious”

ANALYSIS: ALC 11.95% | TA 7.4g/L | pH 3.12 | RS 2.5g/L