Ken Forrester, The FMC Chenin Blanc, Stellenbosch

Ken Forrester · Coastal Region › Stellenbosch › South Africa

White · Chenin Blanc

Critics

91 /100

Reviews

professional

Vintages

No vintages

No vintage-specific entries have been added for this wine.

Community Reviews

Reviews

91.1

Avg Score

Highest

Still drinking wonderfully. This might last for another ten easy. Definitely a sweetness to it but nice acidity still. Loaded with buttercup, white floral notes, even marmalade.

2011 vintage

Aged beautifully, had notes of a dessert wine but deliciously dry. Matched with Lobster in buerre blanc, fantastic.

2011 vintage

Floral and nicely ripe with enough structure to maintain balance. Good density. Tasty spice on finish. My last bottle, I wouldn't consider this cellarworthy beyond the next year or so.

2011 vintage

This is one of my favorite Chenin's from South Africa. This vintage was no exception. The balance of fruit, a touch of oak along with a few years in the bottle, help create this smooth lush wine. Had it over two days with no change in flavor or lushness.

2011 vintage

Not Your Average Varietal (Amy & Scott's) : A small pour at a tasting. This had subdued tropical fruit on the nose and palate. The wine is rich, sweet and round. I felt the complexity here was quite nice. This is one of the better South African chenin blancs I have had.

2011 vintage

Lots of ripe fruit throughout. At different points in the evening I found Meyer lemon, peach, dried apricot, ripe apple and more. Emphasis clearly on the ripeness with a touch of RS at the end. Very good concentration. Very good now, but I wouldn't hold this more than another couple of years.

2011 vintage

Beautiful color, a bit sweeter than previous vintages, drinking well.

2011 vintage

I have mixed feelinngs about this wine. To start, it is easily the oakiest Chenin I've ever had. Has all of the Unctuous pineapple, ginger, and honey/botrytis notes youd expect, but the oak dominates the wine in uncomfortable volume. Will it age? I imagine so, and perhaps its unfair to critique this without looking at aged versions as well. Perfectly delicious wine, but falls into that awkward category of things I was curious about that arent actually worth anywhere near …

2011 vintage

Rich and waxy with lots of dried apricot and summer flowers. More than faint hints of sweetness. Good concentration.

2011 vintage

This is a great Chenin Blanc. Smooth but not too buttery, only a hint of minerality.

2011 vintage

Fresh and dried apricot aromas with sweet, honeyed character. Rich stone fruit again on palate with more than a faint touch of sweetness that I expect will soften slightly with more time in cellar. Good density.

2011 vintage

Clear, perfect yellow brass colour, with white rim. Med volume tears, equidistant. Clean, med + intensity, aromas of banana, golden straw, ripe green gage, honey and a slight smokiness. Dry-Off Dry, med body, med alcohol, med - acidity, no tannins, lovely complexity with further tastes of lemon curd, soft mango, white peach, almonds. This is a surprisingly good wine with sweetness balanced by delicate oak.

2011 vintage

Had the pleasure of tasting this again. Without reading previous note, came to same conclusions. Wonderful stuff.

2011 vintage

Komplext vin, mycket smakrikt med en lång eftersmak

2011 vintage

Deep straw colour, good honeyed nose, lovely slightly off-dry taste but not sure this is improving with age. Drink soon?

2011 vintage

This is fine, but a bit superficial and lacking minerality to be truly satisfying. You get a whiff of oak, and some fleshy yellow fruit (which will definitely appeal to some), but this wine just doesn't have much depth behind the flashy New World surface. I can't conceive of shelling out for this bottle, when you could buy some exquisite, mineral-driven, terroir-expressive Chenin from the Loire for half the price. Not bad wine by any means, but not for me.

2011 vintage

This is the best Chenin I've ever had, though I'm not a huge Loire fan so that's not saying much. Full bodied profile, I likened it on day one and day two to Hermitage Blanc with a hazelnut note in the finish. Butterscotch, lemon peel, depth of minerality, there's a lot to talk about here. South African Chenin is really making a name for itself and this might be the best of the bunch.

2011 vintage

Drank with Christmas dinner with a tomato soup starter. Full bodied, aromatic with a hint fbptrytis (slighty off dry). Good length - lovely wine. Will keep and improve

2011 vintage