Treat yourself to the fabulous Circumstance Chenin Blanc from Stellenbosch! Its clean, precise nose offers hints of honey, white flowers, preserved lemons, and fennel. On the palate, enjoy ripe and creamy citrus, apricot, and minerality, all supported by a streak of taut acidity. A complex, lingering finish will make this wine a memorable addition to your meal - perfect with fish or an oyster mushroom and rocket salad.

Critic Review

Decanter Magazine: 93 pts
Drinking Window: 2023 - 2035

"A wonderful melange of mineral and pithy green fruits combine to offer something very special. There is a lovely purity to this, with a luxurious silky feel, hidden spices and delicate white stone fruit."
Greg Sherwood MW, Beverley Blanning MW, Roger Jones

About the Producer

Waterkloof was founded back in 2004 and is a family-owned vineyard using sustainable Organic practices.  The vineyards are perched high up on the windswept Schapenberg growing area, overlooking False Bay and the climate moderating Atlantic Ocean.  Healthy soils, a naturally low yield and a long growing season help provide Cellarmaster Nadia Barnard with balanced grapes that offer a clear sense of place and terroir.  In the winery they are transformed into wines with little intervention resulting in very fine, inimitable and eminently quaffable wines which are often best enjoyed with food.

Visit the Waterkloof Website

Vineyard and Winery

Living soils and a natural approach to winemaking means that each of the single-varietal wines in the Circumstance range is truly defined by the circumstances influencing the chosen varietal and vineyard blocks, including: soil, aspect, altitude and vintage. These factors combine to produce low yields, balanced grapes and wines with a true sense of place. The Chenin Blanc is from a windswept, south-facing (less sun exposure) block 200-50m above and a mere 2 miles from The Atlantic. Production is a miserly 5 tons per hectare. Waterkloof follow a traditional, minimalistic approach in their gravitational cellar which means interfering as little as possible with the winemaking process. This allows the flavours prevalent in that specific vineyard to ultimately express themselves in the wine. To achieve this goal, all grapes are whole-bunch pressed, which ensures that juice is extracted in the gentlest way. The juice is then allowed to settle for 24 hours after which it is racked from the settling tank into older 600 liter barrels. They do not inoculate the juice with commercially cultivated yeast, but allow the wild yeast prevailing in the vineyard to ferment the juice. The natural fermentation process took 7 months to complete, after which the wine was left on the gross less for a further 3 months. No battonage, no additions of acid or enzymes during the winemaking process, only a small addition of sulphur as a preservative and a light filtration prior to bottling.