This is a seminal example of Chenin Blanc on granite. Lukas has always listened to his inner-self, the one deep down that knew what is right, even when the mind says otherwise. His gut said that taking two components and blending them would make a greater example of the sites rather than on its own. This is illustrated on the label in a symbolic manner with the sailor needing to find his way with a compass and the bee just knowing where to find pollen. Lukas feels that Chenin Blanc is the perfect narrator of ‘site’ and too often wine nerds get fixated on the single-vineyard Chenins to tell that story. He is working with two vineyards for this wine. The first is the Uitvlug farm in Joubertskloof on the western edge of the Paardeberg, adjacent to Eben Sadie’s farm. This vineyard tells the Chenin a story of elegance, focus and mineral/herbal tones with subdued fruit. The famed ‘Karibib Vineyard’ in the Polkadraai region of Stellenbosch is a bit louder providing bass notes and a glossy, intense, yellow fruit-thing with salinity and great depth.

The parcels were hand-harvested, whole-bunch pressed to stainless-steel and left to settle overnight. The wine is the racked to used French oak demi-muids the next morning and the parcels were kept separate for fermentation and maturation. Fermentation occurred naturally and without any additions and malolactic fermentation was blocked via a naturally cooler temperature. The wine aged on its gross lees and with no bâttonage. After ten months the wine was racked and Lukas made the final blend. It was settled in tank for an additional month and then bottled without fining or filtration and just a light sulfur addition.