NELSON FAMILY VINEYARDS SPECIAL LATE HARVEST
A gorgeous little sweetie from South Africa. Described as sunshine in a bottle, I'm hard pushed to disagree.
Paarl
2018
11% ABV.
100% Chenin Blanc
37.5cl
£16.95
Price includes VAT
Tasting notes:
This sweet, vegan late harvest Chenin Blanc has flinty minerality and crisp acidity from sea breezes.
About the wine:
Nelson Estate is nestled between the nearby Paarl and Paardeberg mountains, in this corner of the Western Cape. The local granite soil gives a flinty minerality to this wine, while the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean provides cooling sea breezes preserving crisp acidity in the grapes. Winemaker Lisha Nelson makes this late harvest Chenin Blanc in tiny quantities.
Grapes are left to ripen on the vines for an extended period, harvesting late to ensure maximum sugar content. A large portion of the sugar rmeains arfter fermentation, giving a sweet rich finish.
About the producer:
It is well documented that during the religious wars of the 17th Centurey, many of the French Protestants, including some famous winemakers from the Loire, fled to Holland where they were prevailed upon by the Dutch East India Company to emigrate to the Cape in order to improve its fledgling wine industry.
Old mud and stone buildings on the estate and an ancient underground cellar suggest that the farm that is now the Nelson Creek Estate was one of the first in the Paarl region to be selected for winemaking by these early pioneers.
In pursuit of a childhood dream, Alan Nelson acquired these farms in 1987 out of a bankrupt estate. Since then, they have been lovingly restored by the Nelson family and their team of dedicated workers. Between 1987 and 1994 approximately 50 hectares of old vines were replaced under the watchful eye of the best viticulture consultants in the Cape with noble cultivars, including Cabernet Sauvignon; Merlot; Shiraz; Pinotage; Sauvignon Blanc; Chardonnay and Semillon.
Between 1993 and 1995, a state of the art wine cellar was constructed with the help of Elsenburg oenologist Eugene van Zyl. Wine production commenced in earnest in 1995. The very next year, the Estate won an award for the Best Chardonnay in South Africa and was in the same year crowned as the Champion Private Wine Producer in the Boland region. Since then the Estate has never looked back. The Estate has become internationally known as Nelson's Creek, named after the Nelson family and the small stream that winds its way through the Estate. It inspired and is depicted on the unique two-part label.
