WEATHER CONDITIONS – Simonsberg, Stellenbosch
Winter was cold and wet which was helping replenish soil moisture after the drought. Although we had a cool spring, we still had good bud burst Fluctuations in weather during flowering and berry set resulted in loose uneven bunches with small berries. Veraison started earlier than usual. Cool conditions in growth season, bunch ripening was varied. In the beginning of February, we had intense heat which accelerated the harvest of the early varieties. Harvest was challenging with wet conditions at end of Feb through to March which meant that we had a long 3 week break in the harvest which increase the ripening time for us. The harvest was smaller than previous years but high quality.
WINEMAKING
The grapes were whole bunch pressed. The juice was transferred to new and second fill 500L blond toasted barrels after a brief settling. It was naturally fermented and a variety of temperatures and then left for 11 months on its lees. Total time in barrel was 11 months.
GRAPE VARIETIES : 100% Chardonnay
PRODUCTION : 4,705 cases – 28,235 bottles
ANALYSIS : Alchohol: 13 % Vol. Total Acidity: 5.3g/L pH: 3.4 Residual Sugar: 2.7g/L
