Bryan MacRobert Abbotsdale Swartland Chenin Blanc

From very old bushvines, the Abbotsdale Chenin glimmers green golden and delivers a whole lotta bang for your buck. Exceptional concentration, fresh and baked apple, icing sugar dusted patiserrie goodies and just ripe pears. An immensely tangy, broad and satisfying finish.

Bryan MacRobert is a born and bred Swartlander, with his family farm based just outside of Malmesbury. Never heard of the Swartland? Well, it may be less famous than Constantia or Stellenbosch, but trust us, this is a magical wine producing area, more rugged than the prior two – warm and dry, home to big skies, mountains, wheatfields, and hectares of rugged old bush vines.

Nowadays, Bryan splits his time between life in Rioja, and his home country of South Africa. He aims to make wines that are unique to the soil, climate, vintage and culture of this very special region. As well as working with his family’s vineyards, he also selects special parcels from neighbouring farmers that he has close relationships with.

All the vineyards are worked organically without the use of pesticides, fertilizers or fungicides. The same high standards are maintained in the cellar – minimal intervention, and a sparing use of oak. The smallest barrels he uses are 500l, preferring 2nd and 3rd fill. As he pains to point out ”500l barrels have a quarter of the oak contact as a 225l barrel.” Maths! And wine!