Here in the Swartland most days are Chenin Blanc days, we make a lot of it, we drink a lot of it…

But June 18th is officially known as Drink Chenin Day, officially in the sense that “In 2014 the first #DrinkChenin Day was celebrated on June 12th in New York and 10 other cities across the USA. This campaign was the brainchild of a group of USA retailers and sommeliers. The Chenin Blanc Association joined the campaign in 2016.” It seems it has since moved on 6 days… like I say, every day is Chenin day. (source)

But to celebrate #drinkchenin day, we’ll take a look at a few of our favourite Chenins, that we bottle.

First up, everyone’s go to, value-for-money house white, the Secateurs Chenin Blanc; one cultivar, 28 sites! This little snapshot of our fact sheet tells you more:

On the other end of the spectrum, we make a few Chenins from single specific sites, sites with a unique expression of terroir. These wines might not get bottled every year (if a vineyard does not deliver a juice good enough it will get blended into the Secateurs or the Kalmoesfontein White Blend). The vineyards are old and the yield is low. Here is more on a few of those:

Above is a view of Dassiekop during harvest – Dassiekop, described by Adi as “the finest Chenin Blanc vineyard in SA, a place where viticulture and nature come together in perfect balance” is farmed by Franziska Wickens on Waterval farm, a few kilometers from our cellar.

And then, of course, there is always something a little bit left of field. Chenin Blanc is also the base wine of our Cape aperitif, Caperitif. Find out more about this product if you need to, on our sister site dedicated to The Ghost Ingredient.

We hope you get to enjoy a fine Chenin Blanc today and this weekend, any many more days to come. Cheers!