Sweltering summer days call for a crisp and ice cold wine to take the edge off the relentless heat. I was recently sent a bottle of Ses’Fikile wine to review and what a pleasure it was to enjoy their refreshing 2016 Chenin Blanc-Roussanne poolside, in the heat of December.

Aroma: The Ses’Fikile Chenin Blanc-Roussanne is surpringly warm and almost buttery on the nose, before the grassy and lemony note hits.

Mouthfeel & taste: Refreshing, very crisp but not too dry. The taste reminds me a little bit of colombard chardonnay. The flavour is a subtle grassy one with a hint of green fig and lemon. This is an easy drinking wine that will have lovers of dry to off-dry coming back for glass after glass. The wine tingles the tongue for a split second, almost as if it were a bubbly. If Ses’Fikile ever make an MCC, I will be an instant fan.

Food pairing: I paired the wine with a chicken, pasta and herb salad. The grassy notes in the wine added a zesty flavour to the chicken and enhanced the taste and aroma of the fresh basil, French tarragon and fennel picked fresh from my garden. I could see this wine pairing beautifully with a variety of cold dishes and salads. The Ses’Fikile Chenin Blanc-Roussanne would be excellent with a mezze platter, tapas or chesse course as well. After all, who really wants to spend hours cooking hot lunches in this heat?

I enjoyed the wine and absolutely love the brand and the story behind it. Ses’Fikile, which means “We have Arrived” in isiXhosa, is the culmination of a 10 year journey to our tables and clinking glasses. It is wholly owned by women, and locally produced in the Stellenbosch wine region of South Africa. I look forward to sampling their two red varieties and sharing these wines with friends during celebrations such as graduations, weddings, house warmings, business launches and the like.

The message of a dream achieved after years of dedication and hard work is beautiful, and even more meangful when phrased in our local languages.

So if you find yourself at one of the many summer weddings this December, or at a New Years celebration and want to make a statement with your drink of choice, why not pick up a bottle (or three) of this excellent wine?

The wine currently retails for R60 a bottle and can be ordered online.
To place an order and learn more about the wines visit: http://sesifikile.co.za/