2023 Patatsfontein Steen

Highly Rated
Slate, altitude and quiet winemaking combine here for one of the Cape’s most distinctive Chenins.

Price:
Sale price$71.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

The site says it all here - a tiny block of Chenin planted in 1984, 800m up in the Keisie Valley, on slate and limestone soils that seem to shape every part of this wine. The 2023 vintage came off clean and steady, and winemaker Reenen Borman reckons it’s the best version yet.

Fruit was handpicked, whole-bunch pressed and sent to old French barrels without any additions. There’s a bit of stirring early on, then it’s left alone for 10 months on full lees. A few barrels go through malo, most don’t. No fining, no filtration, just a little SO₂ before bottling.

It’s a tightly wound Chenin with serious cut - not lean, just focused. There’s citrus and white fruit in there, maybe some hay or wet stone, but the point is how all those bits come together. You can feel the altitude and the soil more than anything else. It’s savoury, dry, and built to evolve, though it’s already got plenty to say now. Just a proper, grown-up white from one of the Cape’s sharpest producers.

97 points
"Complex aromatics of pear, peach, lime, hay, herbs and floral perfume... wonderfully focused and composed with great fruit concentration and long, savoury finish."
- Christian Eedes

95 points
"Steely as well as slightly salty... citrus, wax and lemongrass flavours with a hint of wood spices."
- Tim Atkin MW (SA Special Report 2023)

97 points - "Grapes from a Montagu vineyard of Chenin Blanc planted in 1984. Borman describes 2023 as a 'classic' vintage in the sense of no rain pressure and it shows. Complex aromatics of pear, peach, lime, hay, herbs and floral perfume precede a palate of awesome clarity – great fruit concentration and driving acidity, the finish long and deeply savoury. Linear but not aggressively so, just wonderfully focused and composed." - Christian Eedes

95 points - "Continuing a rich run of form, Patatsfontein Steen hails from a single, 36-year-old block on slate soils at 800 metres. Steely as well as slightly salty – strange given that we are nowhere near an ocean – this has star anise, hay and fresh herb aromas, understated intensity, precis citrus, wax and lemongrass flavours and a hint of wood spices. 2024–29." - Tim Atkin MW (SA Special Report 2023)

Reenen describes the 2023 as “my favourite vintage to date. It is coiled up in its tension, so fine and linear, with focus and texture.” Very fragrant notes of wet stone and herbs and earth, this is such a distinctive Chenin that continues to change as it sits in the glass. Racked a little earlier than in the past and aged on the fine lees in used 400 and 500L barrels for 10 months. Produced from a 0.6ha block planted in 1984, the slate soils often promote a lightly reductive feel. 800m elevation.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type White
Body Full Bodied
Variety Chenin Blanc
Country South Africa
Region Western Cape
Critic Score 97
95
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure Cork

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