Old Vines Wines

SPRING VALLEY

Women's Empowerment Wines

Chenin Blanc Sauvignon Blanc

2001:

Old Vines Wine Cellars, the home of top quality, bottle-aged Chenin Blancs, has launched it's first blended white wine in a move that sees the cellar spreading its wings and establishing itself as a competitive player in the Cape wine industry. Produced by mother and daughter team Irina von Holdt and Françoise Botha, the release of Spring Valley marks another hat trick of firsts for Old Vines - their first non-varietal Chenin Blanc blended wine, the cellar's first new label release in three years and the first wine to be blended by Fran Botha. "If you think about where this all began, with wine writing income and a small production of Blue White in 1995, what we have achieved is phenomenal, especially since we relied on one wine to make a living for so long. But, the time has come to expand our production and our Chenin Blanc Sauvignon Blanc blend is the first in our new range," says Fran. The Spring Valley range, which highlights our women's empowerment efforts, will also see the introduction of a dry rosé and a red wine in the coming months. Old Vines has also committed to continued women's empowerment and has provided jobs for 21 women from previously disadvantaged communities. But, the name Spring Valley also has deeper meaning to Old Vines as it was the name of our family farm which played home to generations of our family. Says Irina, "Strangely enough it was not even a wine farm. It was in the Free State and was the place where my parents met when my mother was sent to South Africa's warmer climate from then Czechoslovakia to recover after an illness. Springvalley, as the farm was known, became a source of much of our passion for quality wines and we would like to honour our family for their role in this." Tasting Notes: This exciting blend of Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc is made from the grapes of particularly old Stellenbosch vineyards. Packed with fruit, this unwooded wine is the perfect companion to several types of food - classic fish or shellfish dishes, lightly spiced foods of Thai and other Pacific Rim cuisines, or chicken and pork dishes. Serve well chilled.