Chenin Blanc (or Steen in South Africa) has come to be seen as the archetypal South African white grape variety, a hardy, bulk-producing variety associated (in the UK) with a lot of low-end pub wines. Yet it also produces some great wines in the Loire , and it is gratifying to see it making better wines elsewhere.
The FMC is from Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape of South Africa. It has spent 12 months in new French oak and is a very upfront wine, unmistakeably New World in style with hefty, tropical notes of banana and butterscotch together with vanilla and hay. Ripe fruit and big flavours, but it all feels a little unintegrated – I think it may come together with age. I remain a little dubious as to how well Chenin Blanc is adapted to this heavily oaked style – it feels more like Chardonnay than Chenin.
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