In the six years we have been working with Cederberg we have come round to the view that the Chenin Blanc may actually be their best wine: it’s always so thrillingly crisp and mineral, with ripe grapefruit and lime, backed by a stony freshness. Now-2012

Product Code: CED109

Ever since we first started shipping from the Cape we have prized our friendship with David Niewoudt, one of the kindest, big-hearted, amusing and passionate winemakers we know.  On a recent visit I again enjoyed his tour of this remarkable estate, which David took over in 1997, wondering at the hillside vineyards planted into hard shale, the outlying field fenced against baboons (a couple lurked on top of the remarkable rock pillars of the area), and the surrounding amphitheatre of mountains. The vineyards here are 1100-1150 metres up in the Cederberg mountains. Good natural rainfall, around 550-600mm, cool temperatures and occasionally snow-bound winters, with plenty of wind, mean that Cederberg enjoys a near perfect climate, in particular a long ripening period.