Tasting Notes
True to our style the Unoaked Chardonnay remains a light wine with clean lines and pure fruit flavours with a typical Overberg minerality. As an un-oaked Chardonnay this is quite an aromatic wine, showing floral notes of Frangipani, sweet allysum and even orange blossoms and surprisingly a hint of orange sponge cake. A dynamic palette with a grippy bramley apple acidity and wet pebble minerality.
Being a lighter wine it is easily enjoyed as a sundowner, but pairing it with food is a breeze. Serving it at 10°C and with ceviche or sushi is a real winner. It also doesn’t shy away from lightly spicy dishes or soups and it goes really well with a chicken salad and a main fish dish.
Technical Analysis
Alcohol: 13.00% Residual Sugar: 2.0 g/l Total Acidity: 6.1 g/l pH: 3.39
Harvested by hand 12th February 2018 Bottled: 19th July 2018
Ageing potential: 7 years Production: 6.5 ton/ha
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Harvest and Vinification Report
Following three years of drought, the vines had a tough year resulting in smaller yields. Not only did it remain windy from October through to January, there was very little rain during the growing season so we had to irrigate twice; once after berry-set (mid October) and then again after veraison (end of December). Canopies were also left denser in order to maximise photosynthesis and to protect the smaller bunches from direct sunlight. Berry skins were generally thicker with less pulp ratio resulting in more structured wines and reduced volumes.
Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks, using a commercial yeast. The yeast we selected specifically, because it would enhance and express the natural characteristics of the Chardonnay fruit. After the alcoholic fermentation was completed and the wine was left on the lees (dead yeast cells) for approximately 5 months. During this time the lees was agitated regularly to add character, mouthfeel and tertiary flavours to the palate of the wine. The Chardonnay typically gets aged in oak barrels, but with the Un-oaked Chardonnay, the name says it all.
