This is now in its sixth vintage and Reenen, Henk and Fritz finally feel they are starting to find the direction the vineyard and site is wanting to direct them. This wine has risen the ranks of the great Chenin Blancs in South Africa in a very short time. Reenen continues to harness the shrieking acidity and minerality that the Patatsfontein brings at 2,000 feet in elevation in the Keisie Valley of the Klein Karoo. The soils here have a heavy lime base which brings a ‘Burgundy-esque’ finesse to the wine. The vintage was extremely even ripening and classic warm days equal to that of the Swartland but with very, very cool nights. The diurnal swing of 40ºF is not uncommon here and was so in 2019. The yields are naturally low here due to the older vines but primarily from the poor fruit sets from the gusty winds.

The fruit was hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed with full lees directly to old French barriques. The turbid juice is beaten up a lot with battonage early on and fermentation occurs naturally and without any addition, finishing over the course of nearly two weeks. The lees are quite thick and come spring time malolactic fermentation occurs naturally in some (2/3) of the barrels. After 11 months of aging the wine is racked to tank where the wine naturally settles and it was bottled without fining or filtration and a small addition of sulfur.