Brookdale Estate, Paarl

FOR MANY of us enjoying the wine routes of South Africa over the festive season in 2022/23, there’ll be a new destination we can’t wait to explore. A Paarl estate opening a new tasting room, a new restaurant, gearing up to use their new cellar for the first time. With just four vintages bottled to date, Brookdale has already attracted a fair amount of attention for various reasons, not the least of which has been a particularly interesting wine of which stocks are running low but, at the time of writing, not yet depleted. It would be understandable if availability of their 2020 Single Vineyard Chenin Blanc is rationed in order to keep it on the winelist: 95-point gold medallist at the Decanter World Wine Awards (UK), scored 97 and judged Best Old Vine Wine at the Trophy Wine Show (SA), then double gold medallist at the inaugural SA Wine Awards London.

It’s advisable to have a good map handy when they give the green light for the public to head on over. Brookdale Estate is off the beaten tracks, some distance from Paarl Mountain or the Simonsberg. You leave the N1 at Exit 62A near the Huguenot Tunnel and head north-east to the Klein Drakenstein mountains, eventually arriving at the gates that open onto a brick driveway leading to the luxury accommodation at Brookdale’s Cape Dutch-style manor house – a house surrounded by vineyards that include the 37-year-old block of Chenin used for their flagship wine. The team appointed by proprietor Tim Rudd, a UK businessman involved in commercial property development, housing development and farming in Chile, was fortunate to discover this special vineyard on the slopes of a farm where alien trees and shrubs as well as many of the neglected vines were cleared for new plantings.

“A true Cinderella story,” as they say.

BROOKDALE SINGLE VINEYARD CHENIN BLANC 2020
WO Paarl. Trellised vines planted in 1985. Grapes hand-picked at different stages to achieve optimal ripeness and balance. Fruit pre-cooled and whole-bunch-pressed before spontaneous fermentation (wild yeast) and partial malolactic fermentation. Matured for 11 months in 500L barrels and then for eight months in 2000L foudre, all French oak. Once bottled, the wine was left to mature for a further four months before release. Only 4000 bottles produced.
Alc 13.5 | RS 2.4 | TA 5.9 | pH 3.3
Winemaker Kiara Scott’s Tasting Notes: “Bright lemon hue, aromatics of white pear, citrus, subtle oak spice and a light note of fynbos/buchu. On the palate, the white fruit continues with notes of citrus blossom, sweet vanilla, and a delicious flinty-mineral expression. An intense and lively palate with a long finish and balance.”
R295pb ex-producer, Paarl.