Kleine Zalze acts to save bush vine Chenin

Kleine Zalze winemaker Johan Joubert has warned of the ongoing threat facing South Africa’s old bush vine Chenin Blanc as he unveiled the producer’s most ambitious expression of this variety to date.

“It’s about economic survival for these old vines,” he remarked, pointing out that the bush vines “have half the amount of arms and shoots of normal trellised vines” which contributes to a yield of just “4-6 tonnes per hectare.”

Similarly, Joubert reported that the bunches of grapes from bush vines weigh on average “80-100 grams, they’re very concentrated,” compared to the average 240g bunch weight delivered by trellised Chenin vines.

Although Chenin Blanc retains a major presence in South Africa, representing 18,100ha of the country’s 101,000ha total plantings and 33% of its white grape vineyards, Joubert warned that bush vines continue to be ripped out in favour of more productive vines.

“In 2011, 80ha were ripped out and only 8ha replanted,” he claimed, continuing: “In 2012, 69ha were ripped out and 13ha were replanted.”

In order to address this decline, Joubert argued: “It’s very important to make it financially viable for the producer by going for wines of higher quality and real personality that can go the extra mile for South Africa; that way we can definitely go up in terms of price points.”

Chenin Blanc already represents around 35% of Kleine Zalze’s total wine production, with the Stellenbosch producer exporting three different expressions, as well as its Foot of Africa brand that goes mainly to the Swedish market.

Next month will see the official domestic launch of a 2012 Chenin Blanc addition to Kleine Zalze’s top tier Family

Kleine Zalze’s new Family Reserve Chenin Blanc

Reserve range, which currently includes a Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.

With the rest of this Family Reserve already available in the UK through independent retailers, the new Chenin Blanc is expected to arrive in the UK next year with an RRP of around £20 in line with the range’s Sauvignon Blanc.

Having produced just 6,000 bottles of the Family Reserve Chenin Blanc, Joubert outlined his use of larger 400 litre barrels, using Burgundian rather than Bordeaux oak to create a style that he described as “much livelier.”

Having spent 12 months in barrel on its lees, the wine is bottled without filtration to maximise mouthfeel. In the vineyard, Joubert stressed the importance of ensuring the bush vines have “a much more dense canopy to prevent the sunlight getting in.” He also highlighted the beneficial impact of blending separately across three different soil types he has uncovered.

Explaining the attributes each soil type brings to the final wine, Joubert noted how the granite soils “for me create freshness in Chenin Blanc,” while the duplex soils “give a longer hang period that definitely contributes to the structure of the blend,” and the shale “is much more broken so the roots go quite deep, which gives good length to the wines.”

In order to illustrate further the evolution in his approach to managing this grape variety at Kleine Zalze, Joubert also showed some mature examples of the company’s Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc dating back to 2003, the year he took over as winemaker.

Wynand van Schalkwyk, marketing manager for Kleine Zalze, acknowledged that, despite winning several trophies, these older styles’ botrytised character, darker colour, 5-7g of residual sugar and 14.3-15% abv meant they “were not easy commercially.”

In order to address this issue, Joubert has since tweaked this expression from the 2009 vintage to create a wine at 13.9% abv and just 5% botrytis influence.

Johan Joubert will be presenting Kleine Zalze’s full UK range at the London International Wine Fair on the Hatch Mansfield stand, N40.