Very pale lemon. Crisp and clean, almost flinty aroma. Attack of ripe fruit - ripe pears melon, perhaps even a hint of lychees. That gush of fruit is balanced by an almondy freshness. More weight than most well-priced Chenins. Now-2011

Product Code: FAB109

False Bay is the second label of a new enterprise, Waterkloof, founded pricipally by English wine agent Paul Boutinot.  The vineyards lie on high ground on the southern shoulders of the Helderberg, not far from Vergelegen. Amidst them, on a bluff high above Somerset West and False Bay itself, a startling winery is being constructed: it looks a little like the hangout of a James Bond villain. This is a hugely ambitious project.

The False Bay wines are well crafted, smartly labelled, varietal wines, bottled under screwcap, in part sourced from fruit from Waterkloof, but also from parcels of well-sited vines all over the Coastal Region (which includes most South African vineyards near Cape Town), identified by partner Werner Engelbrecht.

The Chenin Blanc comes from dry-farmed, bush vines in Paardeberg, slowly fermented using only wild yeasts. This brightly flavoured wine exemplifies how old vines in the Cape make the best examples of good value dry Chenin Blanc in the world.