Made from grapes grown on 20 year old, dry-land bush vines, the recently released 2014 Leopard’s Leap Culinaria Chenin Blanc stays true to its terroir in a way that is both classic and versatile.
The Leopard’s Leap Culinaria Collection is inspired by the terroir-specific wines of France and the 2014 Culinaria Chenin Blanc represents the characteristic freshness and fruitiness associated with wines from the Loire Valley – with the exceptional quality of South African fruit of course! The well-defined flavours of the Chenin Blanc shows apricot, pear, pineapple and kiwi fruit supported by a zippy acidity and some interesting sweet-spice contributed by the 10% Grenache Blanc in the blend.
The complexity of the 2014 Culinaria Chenin Blanc allows itself to be an exceptional partner to food – in line with the Culinaria Collection’s focus of celebrating the age-old relationship between food and wine. Excellent with shellfish and other seafood, herbs and vegetable dishes, the 2014 Culinaria Chenin Blanc offers a wonderful solution to the often difficult pairing of Thai food and is the answer to the notoriously challenging tomato – from Gazpacho, to Salad Caprice to Ratatouille! (Please see food pairing list in *Notes to Editor)
Both the Chenin Blanc and Grenache Blanc grapes are from bush vines with an average age of 20 years and an average yield of just 4.8 tons per hectare. These dry-land vineyards with their unirrigated soil ensure good flavour concentration in the grapes. Harvested separately at full ripeness, both varieties were allowed skin contact of twelve hours and were fermented at 20 degrees Celsius in 500-litre second-fill and third-fill French oak barrels. The wine was allowed nine months’ lees contact prior to blending and bottling and was matured for another six months before being released early-April 2015.
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