Description
This white wine from the 2022 vintage is a blend of 38% Verdelho, 33% Chenin Blanc, 13% Marsanne, 11% Roussanne, and 5% Viognier exclusively from the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. In the glass this wine is a delicate golden colour, the nose is fresh with apple blossom white flowers, pineapple, and ripe apples and pears with a hint of buttered toast on the end. The palate is juicy and fragrant with a slightly grippy texture, with notes of almonds, apple, pineapple, and lychee round the slightly creamy palate with a long finish. 13% ABV. This is a great match with grilled prawns or clams, in a white wine garlic and herb butter sauce, or try with grilled halloumi and spinach salad with fresh citrus vinaigrette. Enjoy now or hold until summer 2025. This is the latest release of The Empire Strikes Back and is still relatively young so we would recommend decanting it for half an hour before serving. Regarding temperature, we’d recommend it fairly cool at 6-8 degrees.
The Empire Strikes Back back was created by Pieter Walser of Blank Bottle, a Star Wars fan of course, as a cheeky nod to what perhaps has become the overshadowed wine region of Stellenbosch, as other wine regions have become trendsetters. In the early 2000’s the trendy Swartland region took the premium South African wine limelight leaving the Stellenbosch region behind. So, for this wine, Pieter uses as many white grape varieties as possible exclusively from the Stellenbosch region, an area that he rates highly but feels is undervalued for its white wines. The Blank Bottle winery is based in Somerset West. Cape Town, in South Africa. It is the brainchild of Pieter Walser, who owns no vineyards but buys grapes from vineyards across the Western Cape. This gives him the flexibility to develop new wines each year without being bound to one vineyard site. Pieter’s approach is unique, every year there are a different number of wines, sometimes 20, sometimes between 30 and 40! The best wines such as The Empire Strikes Back, however, stay in his range and are made every year…
