Ken Forrester has been making wines for more than a decade. Only in 10 years, the estate’s production rose from 400 to approximately 85,000 cases. Ken Forrester is now widely known as ‘Mr. Chenin blanc’, because it is by successfully cultivating this varietal, often looked down upon yet commonly grown in South Africa, that Ken Forrester built his reputation as a winemaker. Twelve years ago, Ken Forrester bought one of Cape Town’s oldest wineries, the Scholtzenhof Farm, which had been uninhabited for 6 years. At that time, the South African wine industry was at its lowest point. Ken Forrester began his wine-producing activities just at the right time, and benefited from the gradual revival of the wine industry to develop his winery.
The estate’s charm resides in Ken Forrester’s ‘chenin blanc’ vineyard, which consists of 40 year old chenin blanc grapevines. This vineyard is located on the slopes of the Helderberg hills within the heart of two famous South African wine regions: Stellenbosch and Helderberg. Stellenbosch is the only region in South Africa where Grenache is grown.
Ken Forrester’s philosophy is to create ‘hand-crafted ’ wines, to pair excellently with a wide variety of recipes. Specific emphasis is placed upon producing high quality chenin blanc.