2022 Chenin Blanc Stellenbosch

Damascene has almost appeared out of nowhere in the last couple of years. I met with head winemaker Jean Smit in London in June and then visited the estate for the first time during my trip. Fruit is sourced from various major wards, including Swartland, Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, and their policy is to use 1,000 and 2,000-liter oval Austrian foudres for aging. Moya Meaker Wines comes from the Elgin estate itself, on Bokkeveld shale soils, where there is greater use of French barriques with higher percentages of new oak, though nothing over 50%. Readers can find more information about the background in last year’s report by searching the producer profile attached to my tasting notes. Smit is certainly a driven winemaker who knows what he’s doing, and comparing recent releases with a few older bottles to “fill in the gaps”, the quality of wines is improving year by year.