De Morgenzon - Reserve Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch - 2019 (750ml)

Wine Composition

100% Chenin Blanc

Winemakers Comments

This show-stopping white displays effusive aromas of white flower, stone fruit, honey and toast which erupt into opulent flavours of pear, orange blossom, caramel, and spice. It’s a world-class wine offering that strikes a brilliant balance between lush fruit and crisp, mouth-watering acidity.

Awards

Tim Atkins | 95 points

Decanter World Wine Awards | 95 points

Vinous Antonio Galloni | 93 points

Technical Analysis

Alcohol Percentage 

14.09%

TA

5.6 g/l

pH 

3.37

RS

2.5 g/l

Cellar Techniques

The grapes were picked in three different passes in order to achieve optimum ripeness and balance in the final wine. The grapes were handpicked in the early morning hours, with bunch selection done in the vineyard. The fruit was cooled down and then gently pressed, the whole bunch, and the juice was settled overnight without the use of settling enzymes. Fermentation occurred naturally in French oak barrels (20% new), using indigenous yeasts, with about 20% of the volume completing malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged on its lees in barrel for 10 months, without batonage.

2018 was dry vintage in the Cape. Thunderstorms in early spring added a lot of Nitrogen to the soils resulting in very healthy canopies entering the growing season. The daytime temperatures during the ripening period were cooler than what was experienced in the very hot 2016 and 2017 vintages, with relatively cool evenings. Conditions were very dry though, with vine stress management being key to success. Fruit harvesting tended to be very early in 2018, with a focus on bringing fruit into the winery with lower sugar levels and lower pH levels.

Winemaker

Name - Carl van der Merwe

Winery

DeMorgenzon, ‘the morning sun,’ was so named as it is the first part of the Stellenboschkloof valley to see the sun because of its high altitude and aspects. We cover the top southern and eastern slopes of Ribbokkop, overlooking the pinnacle of Kanonkop from where a cannon was fired to alert the farms in the region that a ship had put into Table Bay. The first road from Cape Town to Stellenbosch ran through the Stellenbosch Kloof.

In 2003 Wendy and Hylton Appelbaum bought DeMorgenzon and have since transformed DeMorgenzon into a 224-acre garden vineyard, where abundant wildflowers grow between the vines.