Pat’s Garden Reserve 2020

Scholtzenhof is one of the oldest farms in the Cape, with roots dating back to 1689. When Ken Forrester (then a respected restaurateur in Johannesburg) and his wife Teresa bought the derelict property at auction in 1993, they undertook a complete renovation of the homestead and vineyards, producing their first wines under the Ken Forrester label in 1994. The estate sits on the lower slopes of the Helderberg Mountain in Stellenbosch, and farming is done entirely by hand, from tilling and pruning through to harvest. Chenin Blanc is at the heart of everything, with some vines on the property dating back to the 1970s. Ken was a founding member of the Chenin Blanc Association in 2000 and has long been known in South African wine circles as “Mr Chenin,” a title the 2022 Decanter World Wine Awards went some way to endorsing by naming his Old Vine Reserve the best Chenin Blanc in the world.