SIMONSIG TOP UNWOODED CATEGORY IN WINE’S CHENIN BLANC CHALLENGESimonsig
Chenin Blanc added another feather to its winning cap by taking top honours as
the Best Unwooded wine in the 2010 Wine
Magazine Guala Closures Chenin Blanc Challenge. The
winning 2007 Simonsig Chenin Blanc, a former Platter’s ‘Superquaffer of the
Year’, scored 3½ stars at this year’s challenge. In
addition to winning Best Unwooded Chenin Blanc, the 2009 Simonsig Chenin Blanc
scored 3 stars at this year’s contest, endorsing Simonsig’s legacy of quality
with each new vintage produced. Simonsig also excelled in the wooded category
with the Chenin Avec Chêne 2008 being ranked joint 2nd overall with 4½
stars and the Simonsig Woolworths Limited Release 2008 scoring 4 stars. Last
year this wooded 2008 Chenin Blanc limited release bottled under the Woolworths
label, won Simonsig the coveted Old Mutual Wine Show Trophy as ‘Best Chenin
Blanc’ and ‘Best White Wine Overall’. “We
pride ourselves in producing a Chenin blanc that over delivers on quality.
Chenin blanc was the first wine released by my later father, and after 40
years, remains our biggest selling wine,” says Simonsig Given
the success of this wine, it is rather ironic that Johan once considered giving
up on an unwooded version as it did not make business sense to produce an
accessible, easy-drinking wine from expensive Stellenbosch vineyards. Instead, Johan
embarked on a style change in the mid-1990’s, transforming its lighter profile
to a fuller, richer wine with greater ageing potential. The Simonsig Chenin
Blanc has an appealing fruity yet drier taste, which makes it a versatile wine
from a quaffing and food pairing point of view. In 2005
Simonsig took a more serious approach to South Africa’s most widely planted variety
with the introduction of the full-bodied wooded Chenin Avec Chêne 2004 (Chenin with oak), offering greater depth
and complexity to its impressive repertoire of superbly balanced Chenins. More about Simonsig Chenin Blanc 2007 It
is an eminently enjoyable wine which radiates a bright golden straw hue with
sweet fruit aromas of sun-ripened Golden Delicious apples and tangy pear
dominant on the nose. A tropical fruit salad of melons, guavas and pineapples
fills the palate whilst a hint of wild honey evokes a silky richness on the
aftertaste. Simonsig
Chenin Blanc 2007 is quintessentially the chosen accompaniment for a hot
summer’s day and complements seafood as well as traditional curry and spicy
Thai cuisine exceptionally well. The wine retails
from R32 per bottle and is available directly from the For more
information or direct cellar orders contact Simonsig Estate at
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