Description
The Cortez is the Chenin Blanc Craig Hawkins rates as his most complex and longest-lived. This is 'The One'. Old vines, a quartz-rich site - this is high-level Chenin, comparable to anything else in the world.
Craig did his apprenticeship with Eben Sadie and in Europe with Tom Lubbe before founding Testalonga in the Swartland in 2008, and he's been one of the leading lights of the region's lo-fi wave ever since. The Cortez comes from a vineyard planted in 1972 on the Paardeberg, farmed organically since 2001. That's a long run of organic farming for these parts.
What makes the site special is the quartz. Craig says that good year or bad, it gives a tension he doesn't always find in his other wines. In the cellar he makes it with kid-gloves. The fruit is whole-bunch pressed and wild fermented, with none of the extended skin contact that defines El Bandito.
It's very intense. Really intense. A powerful, dry, medium-bodied Chenin that's more about line and texture than rich fruit. It's taut and savoury, with plenty of concentration and a long, salty finish. The 2025 has the drive to reward a good few years in the cellar.
Old organic vines, quartz-driven tension and one of South Africa's great natural winemakers. This is the serious end of the Testalonga range.
98 points
"The nose is strikingly perfumed, with potpourri, dried herbs, pear, peach and green apple. The palate shows excellent fruit concentration, its acidity finely integrated, before a pithy finish. Poised and intensely flavoured, this is a wine of very clean lines that goes on and on."
- Christian Eedes (Winemag.co.za)
| Price Bracket | $51 to $100 |
| Type | White |
| Body | Medium Bodied |
| Variety | Chenin Blanc |
| Country | South Africa |
| Region | Paardeberg |
| Feature |
Natural/Lo-Fi Cult High Score |
| Reviewed By |
Winemag.co.za |
| Critic Score |
98 |
| Alcohol | 12% |
| Size | 750ml |
| Vintage | 2025 |
| Closure | Cork |
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