Bellingham The Maverick announced best wooded Chenin Blanc
Bellingham The Maverick Chenin Blanc 2006
Bernard Podlashuk was the somewhat unconventional founder of Bellingham who, among other things, produced South Africa’s first rosé (1949), its first singlevariety Shiraz (1956) and its top-selling semi-sweet white wine, Johannisberger. As a tribute to this socalled “maverick winemaker”, Bellingham introduced The Maverick Collection in 2002, the idea being that these wines wouldn’t “merely” be of excellent quality but also “absolutely individual” in terms of expressing both vintage and “terroir”.
The Maverick Chenin Blanc 2006 is both of those things – and more. Having placed second overall in last year’s Chenin Blanc Challenge, the very same vintage has now been named Best Wooded Chenin Blanc in this year’s competition. It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to cellarmaster Niël Groenewald, though, as he has previously described The Maverick 2006 as “one of the best wines I have made”.
For starters, growing conditions were perfect for Chenin that year – especially for the small pockets of very low-yielding bush vines dotted around Agter-Paarl, Bottelary Hills and Darling, ranging in age from 30 to 35 years. “The beauty of Chenin in South Africa is these amazing old vines producing amazing quality. I love to accentuate the power that is possible.”
For added complexity and intrigue, Groenewald and assistant winemaker Mario Damon also added a small parcel of botrytis-affected grapes, with the juice barrelfermented in new and second-fill French barriques, then left for a further 11 months on its gross lees with regular stirring. The result is a wine with alcohol at 14.37% and 7g/l residual sugar: “A wine with attitude!”
Though some 3 500 cases were made, the wine is now hard to come by. However, you can still purchase it at specialist Cape Town retail store Caroline’s Fine Wines, for example, at R115 a bottle.
