2021 Badenhorst Family Wines Chenin Blanc The Golden Slopes

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 90 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View AudunG's profile
  • Report Issue

  10/15/2023 - AudunG wrote: 90 Points

  Aromatic and delicious with yellow apples and some oak. Rich and meaty on the palate. Lovely wine.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View forceberry's profile
  • Report Issue

  12/5/2022 - forceberry wrote: 85 Points

  A single-vineyard Steen (aka. Chenin Blanc) from "The Golden Slopes" vineyard planted in 1966. Whole-bunch pressed into an old 1200-liter foudre. Fermented spontaneously. Aged on the gross lees until the wine is bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13% alcohol. Tasted blind.
  
  Ever-so-slightly hazy, pale whitish-green color. Ripe and somewhat restrained nose with understated aromas of fresh Golden Delicious apple, some waxy tones, a little bit of cantaloupe, light zesty notes of lemony citrus fruits and a hint of leesy character. The wine is fresh, youthful and slightly viscous on the palate with a medium body and slightly reticent flavors of red apples, some crunchy notes of white currants, a little bit of fresh pear, light stony mineral notes, a hint of salinity and a touch of MSG-like savory umami. The quite high acidity lends good sense of structure and balance to the wine. The finish is dry, ripe and slightly concentrated with a moderately long aftertaste of fresh pear, some ripe apple tones, a little bit of concentrated waxy character, light crunchy notes of whitecurrants and a hint of leesy yeast.
  
  A nice, nuanced and quite characterful Chenin Blanc that isn't big on fruit - instead the wine emphasizes more of the savory non-fruit flavors and the little fruit that there is feels quite youthful and at times even primary. I think the wine is still a bit youthful and will evolve and open up with age - although I doubt the wine is ever going to be a particularly bold or exuberant in character. Nice, but perhaps a bit underwhelming now - expect the wine to improve with a few years of extra age.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.