SAAM Chenin Blanc

SAAM is a series of wines created by Perderberg Group, one of South Africa's leading and innovative wine companies. They date back to 1941 when grape growers in the region got fed up of not receiving a fair price for their grapes from existing co-operatives so decided to create their own!

Since then, Perderberg has looked to become a leading producer in the Western Cape.

WINE PRODUCTION:

The grapes for SAAM Chenin Blanc were harvested from the Darling and Stellenbosch regions. The soil consists mostly of decomposed granite and sandstone that are well suited for vineyards in dryland conditions. There was very little to no irrigation on the vineyards, relying only on natural rainfall. This is important because hydric stress brings out the best flavours in wine. When harvested the berries are small due to the small amounts of water they received in the growing season. These small berries give great concentrated fruit flavour to the wine.

The wine was fermented in stainless steel tanks for 15 days at a cold temperature and a selected yeast was added to achieve the fruity style. The wine was aged on the lees for three months before bottling.

TASTING NOTES:

I love the taste of this wine. It's got a fantastic bouquet of tropical and stone fruits such as peach, nectarine and kiwi fruit. It remains really fresh due to the cool fermentation but the time spent on lees just gives it an extra bit of texture, rounds it out and gives it more body.