Axle

The story of how the red wine focused winery of Natte Valleij started making the Axle Chenin Blanc is now famous. Quite simply, Alex Milner finally gave in and agreed to make a white wine for his wife after several requests. Still the only white in his range, this Old Vine WO Darling Chenin Blanc from the Swartland has created its own unique following with each annual release selling out rapidly.

Until this vintage, Alex used a basket-press to extract the juice for the grapes, accumulating up an impressive 80 hours of manual pressing in 2023, which he says “practically finished me off!”. So, he has now bought a pneumatic press and the 2024 vintage was done mechanically, which means that the wine was exposed to oxygen for less time and the 2024 is notably lighter in colour and fresher in character than the 2023 vintage.

Old Vine Certified Heritage Vineyard planted in 1985.

Natte Valleij Axle Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2024, WO Darling, 13% Abv.

The 2024 vintage is proving to be a good one for many of South Africa’s top white wines and this beautiful new Old Vine dryland bush vine Chenin Blanc release from Alex Milner at Natte Valleij is no exception. Aged for 9 months in barrel, the aromatics show a beautifully pure, crisp, crystalline delineation that’s tightly packed with yellow honeysuckle, pineapple chunks in syrup, white peaches and sweet granadilla before more subtle hints of tangerine, apricots and dried guava develop. The deep Granitic soils give the palate an incredible clarity, purity and wound spring tension with the pineapple and passion fruit layers gently buffered by stony mineral phenolics and bright, mouthwatering, tangy acids. The cool 13% alcohol is simply the cherry on the cake giving the wine a fresh, suave, sophisticated elegance. Pure class. Drink now to 2032+.

(Wine Safari Score: 96/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

The Natte Valleij wines are imported into the UK by South African specialist merchant Museum Wines.

‘Axle’ is an anagram of Alex and was made at the request of Alex Milner’s wife, who disparaged their ‘light-reds-only’ policy and demanded a white wine option of similar quality and style… and thus the Axle Chenin Blanc was born.

The Axle Chenin Blanc is made by Alex Milner of Natte Valleij winery from grapes sourced from a dryland grown old bush vine certified Darling heritage block planted in 1985 on decomposed granite soils. Made in a very minimalist, low intervention manner without losing any of its fine wine integrity, this wine represents a classy textural style of serious (and seriously delicious) Chenin Blanc.

Old Vine Certified Heritage vineyard from 1985.

The grapes were basket pressed and allowed to settle for 24 hours, then racked into old 225 litre oak barrels with careful addition of fine lees sediment to each barrel. After a natural fermentation, the wine received regular bâtonnage until late May. Aged in barrel over winter, the wine was bottled in the Spring after 9 months.

Tasting the Axle Chenin Blanc in the UK with Alex Milner in May 2023.

Natte Valleij Axle Old Vine Chenin Blanc 2022, WO Darling, 13% Abv.

In the glass, this wine shimmers with a translucent golden yellow straw intensity, revealing rich exotic aromatics of incense, potpourri, grapefruit marmalade, yellow peach, dried apricots and attractive hints of stem ginger. The addition of the fine lees really adds another dimension of texture and complexity to the wine, lending an almost Sauternes-like breadth and opulence to the nose. The palate is equally plush, glycerol and broad but with a majestic coolness and creamy harmony that allows delicate notes of tangy apricot, peach and dried guava to linger on the long, intense dry granitic finish. This is another magnificent creation from this regal old vine Darling Chenin Blanc vineyard and undoubtedly a wine that is going to woo its already sizeable cult following. Drink on release and over the next 5 to 8+ years.

(Wine Safari Score: 95/100 Greg Sherwood MW)

Natte Valleij wines are imported into the UK exclusively by Museum Wines. The Axel Chenin Blanc is available retail from Vincognito.co.uk at circa £20.95 per bottle.