Description
Off-piste and esoteric for sure, it still amazingly captures the “Wes Kus” spirit and style with a glassy crystalline purity, coastal salinity and, of course, lovely freshness. This is not a Crayfish style wine, but it deserves equal attention and most definitely a place in your cellar for Christmas!
Initially, on opening, the wine was a little tight and reticent, revealing more of the Colombard’s green apple and cream soda notes. But with a few hours to open up, the wine slowly starts to unfurl a much more animated expression of crunchy white peaches, white pepper, green pears, sea breeze and a subtle chalky minerality. On the palate, the wine definitely shifts into fifth gear, revealing a mouth-wateringly vibrant tangy acidity, waves of green apple zest, crunchy white peach, fresh pear puree and just the most subtle hint of tangerine peel. The mouthfeel is full, round, glycerol and confident, showing an impressively fleshy weight and an appealing crystalline purity with perhaps a very faint grassy complexity on the long, intense finish. 95/100 Greg Sherwod MW
The 2020 vintage of the Full on Misfit Blanc combines three different varieties representing the Olifants river and Koekenaap areas. This statement wine is a move away from the classic Rhone and Bordeaux white blends for a new take on white blends and their ever-changing compositions in South Africa. This is a West Coast blend.
Composition: 56% Chenel, 24% Colombard, 20% Sauvignon Blanc.
Winemaking and Vinification
The grapes were picked early in the morning to preserve flavours and keep them from spontaneously starting fermentation. All grapes were picked at optimal ripeness to best express their maximum potential, then taken to a cold room and cooled overnight to preserve freshness.
We threw everything whole-bunch into a basket press and foot-stomped without the addition of any sulphites or enzymes. It was cold-settled for two days and then racked into 228-litre barrels. 50% of the Chenel was done with whole-bunch carbonic maceration on the skins for two weeks and then pressed and racked into two 228-litre barrels.
After 4 months in 228-litre barrels, the Chenel was racked to 500-litre barrels for a further 3 months of ageing. The Colombard and Sauvignon Blanc was pressed whole-bunch and fermented in 228-litre barrels. All the components were aged for 7 months on the gross lees with minimal sulphites added and battonaged once a week for 4 months. They were eventually blended together after 7 months and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Analysis
PH: 3.3
TA: 6.64g/L
RS: 1.8g/L
Alc: 12%
Ageing Potential: With the low PH, low intervention and high natural acidity, plus the added ageing in barrel, this wine will definitely be able to age for 5 to 7 years.
