Kershaw Elgin Clonal Selection Chardonnay 2019

Restrained, mineral style focussed on elegance with a white fruit character, some oatmeal and some complexity gained from percipiently applied wood.

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• Tukulu (50% gravel, 25% friable clay and 25% sand) giving elegance, freshness and aromatics • Koue Bokkeveld shales, often referred to as decomposed shales, give structure, concentration of flavours and an amplified perfume • Koffieklip, commonly known as Ferricrete, containing pebbles and sandstone, gives delicacy and fruity flavours

Grapes were hand-picked in the early autumnal mornings, placed into small lug baskets and tipped directly into a press before being gently whole-bunch pressed up to a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a low juice recovery of 620 litres per ton was obtained using our Willmes Sigma 5 press. The juice gravity-flowed directly to barrel without settling. The unclarified juice had no enzymes or yeast added to it and therefore underwent spontaneous fermentation until dry, with malolactic discouraged. The wine rested in barrel for four months before judicious sulphuring and a further seven months’ maturation in barrel before racking, blending and bottling.

A small number of artisanal coopers were selected, all from Burgundy and only French oak was chosen. 35% of the oak was new with the remainder split into 2nd and 3rd fill barrels of predominantly 228 ltr with 10% left to ferment and mature in stainless steel.