Stone Row Chenin
Chenin Blanc · 2023
Old bush vines on the top two rows, where the granite comes through the topsoil. Fermented in concrete, no oak, no malolactic.
R320
In stock
01 / The range
Three wines,
fifty-one vintages.
Two blocks of Chenin, one of Cinsault, one of Cabernet. Every bottle on this page grew on the same south-facing shoulder between 340 and 380 metres. We have never bought in fruit.
Current releases below, then the library — everything still standing in the tunnel, with the case count as it stood on the last stocktake.
02 / Current release
In the rack now.
When a vintage doesn't earn its label it goes into the estate blend and we say so on the tasting sheet. Two have, since 1974.
Old Bush Cinsault
Cinsault · 2022
Planted 1968, dry-farmed, whole-bunch. Picked early for the acid. The lightest red we make and the one the cellar staff drink.
R485
41 cases left
Vale Cabernet
Cabernet Sauvignon · 2021
The bottom block, deeper soil, later ripening. Thirty months in old oak. We hold it two years before release and it will take ten more.
R690
Allocation only
Case of six — 10% off · Case of twelve — 15% off · Courier nationwide, R120 per case
03 / Technical sheets
The numbers,
as they were measured.
Analysis from the co-op lab at Wolfkloof, taken at bottling. The alcohol is what the wine came in at, not what we wanted it to be.
| Measure | Stone Row 2023 | Old Bush 2022 | Vale 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block | 1 & 2 · top rows | 3 · mid slope | 4 · bottom |
| Planted | 1974 & 1986 | 1968 | 1994 |
| Picked | 04 Feb 2023 | 21 Feb 2022 | 09 Mar 2021 |
| Alcohol | 12.4% | 12.1% | 13.8% |
| Total acidity | 6.4 g/l | 5.5 g/l | 5.9 g/l |
| Residual sugar | 1.8 g/l | 1.4 g/l | 1.6 g/l |
| pH | 3.28 | 3.44 | 3.61 |
| Vessel | Concrete, 9 months | Old oak foudre, 11 months | Old barriques, 30 months |
| Bottled | Nov 2023 | Jan 2024 | Sep 2023 |
| Bottles made | 9,600 | 3,240 | 2,880 |
| Drink | Now – 2033 | Now – 2029 | 2027 – 2040 |
Fining: none on the Chenin and Cinsault · Filtration: coarse pad, all three · Sulphur at bottling: 28–36 mg/l free
04 / The library
Back vintages,
counted in the tunnel.
Two hundred metres of tunnel at 11 °C holds what is left of every vintage we did not drink. These counts are from the June stocktake and they only go down.
| Vintage | Wine | Note from the cellar | Left | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Stone Row Chenin | First dry-farmed year. Tight when young, opening now. | 28 cases | R480 |
| 2018 | Vale Cabernet | Drought vintage, small berries, still closed. | 14 cases | R980 |
| 2017 | Old Bush Cinsault | The one everyone asks for. Nine cases and we are not moving on price. | 9 cases | R760 |
| 2016 | Vale Cabernet | Hot February, picked over four passes. Drinking beautifully. | 22 cases | R1,150 |
| 2014 | Stone Row Chenin | Waxy, almost sherried at the edge. Not for everyone. | 6 cases | R620 |
| 2011 | Vale Cabernet | Cellar reference bottle. Two cases held back for the tasting room. | 4 cases | R1,650 |
| 2008 | Estate blend | Chenin declassified the year the press broke. Honest, odd, cheap. | 11 cases | R390 |
| 1998 | Vale Cabernet | Marike's first vintage as cellar hand. Ullage varies; sold as is. | 2 cases | R2,400 |
How library orders work
Library bottles are not on the courier list. Email the cellar with the vintage and quantity and we pull it, photograph the fill level and the capsule, and send you the picture before you pay. Anything over ten years old is sold as-is, and we will tell you honestly if we would not buy it ourselves.
Shipping & export terms05 / Vintage register
Six seasons,
as they happened.
Rainfall to end of December, first pick date, and what the season did to us. We keep this because the good years are only legible next to the bad ones.
2026
First pick 04 Feb · 388 mm
Eleven days early, two degrees hotter. We picked the Chenin at night for the first time in fifty-one years and the acid held.
2025
First pick 15 Feb · 502 mm
Textbook. Cool December, slow ripening, the kind of year where nothing interesting happens and the wine is better for it.
2024
First pick 12 Feb · 341 mm
Driest since 2018. Block four dropped 22% of its crop and the Cabernet went to the estate blend. We said so on the sheet.
2023
First pick 04 Feb · 476 mm
Hail on 30 November took the top of block one. What survived made the best Chenin we have bottled, at two-thirds the volume.
2022
First pick 21 Feb · 519 mm
Long, wet, late. Botrytis pressure through January meant four passes through block three by hand. The Cinsault is worth it.
2021
First pick 09 Mar · 461 mm
The latest pick on record. Cabernet hung until March and came in at 13.8%, which is as ripe as this slope gets.
06 / Buying
Four ways to get a bottle
- At the table. Every tasting fee is waived on a six-bottle purchase, which is what most people do.
- Courier. R120 per case anywhere in South Africa. Cases leave Tuesdays and Thursdays, two to four working days.
- The slope club. Three cases a year, chosen by the cellar, courier included and first call on the Cabernet allocation.
- Export. UK, Netherlands and Denmark through one agent, minimum six cases, by email rather than through the site.
07 / The cellar door
Taste all three in one sitting.
Poured in order, forty-five minutes, with the sheet that lists what we got wrong. Fee waived if you leave with six bottles.