60 years ago our namesake John Kosovich planted the first Chenin Blanc vines on our home block in the Swan Valley. Even though he had only been the senior winemaker for around nine years, he knew that Perth’s mediterranean climate and local soils were perfectly suited to this varietal.
In the early days, and to some extent even today, the average wine buying public may be reluctant to try Chenin. It is often a wine they’re unfamiliar with. We, however, have persisted for the last 60 years in making this wine. Initially sold as a young white wine, the family has always enjoyed it as an aged wine. It was third generation senior winemaker Arch Kosovich who decided it was time we allowed others to enjoy what we had been sharing around the kitchen table for many years.
Arch began to hold back small quantities of each vintage to be released around six years after bottling and he is beginning to gain a reputation of producing some of the finest wines in Western Australia. When tasting the wine many people perceive it to have been aged in oak, however the characteristics of this wine all come from considered winemaking using well cared for vines and ageing in the bottle.
The current 2015 vintage received the accolade of being named ‘Best Chenin Blanc in Australia’ at the inaugural 2020 Australian Chenin Blanc Challenge along with Best Chenin Blanc and Best Swan Valley Table Wine of Show at the 2020 Swan Valley Wine Show. The 2022 James Halliday Wine Companion rates this wine 97points with Erin Larkin writing this wine is “…an ever-evolving wine of depth and intensity…”
If this is a vareity you have been reluctant to try, we recommend you call by the cellar door for a tasting. We’re sure you won’t be disappointed.