Chenin blanc plantings and tonnage pressed amount to approximately 18% of the total wine grapes in South Africa. In view of this prominent role played by Chenin blanc in the South African wine industry and as a result of competition with other white cultivars and other wine producing countries in overseas markets, there has been renewed interest in Chenin blanc as a white wine cultivar. Recent local and overseas competitions have shown that this cultivar, when cultivated and treated correctly, is able to produce high quality wines. Because cultivars of a neutral type, such as Chenin blanc, are mainly dependent on the presence of fermentation flavourants, viticultural and oenological factors that promote the development of positive fermentation components play an important role. In this study the effects of yeast strain and lees contact on Chenin blanc wine quality were investigated. Lees contact may be beneficial to certain styles of wine to impart more complexity and body (Zoecklein et al., 1997; Fornairon-Bonnefond et al., 2002).

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