Chardonnay Case

The grapes were hand harvested in small crates in the early hours of the morning to keep the grapes cool and preserve flavours. Grapes are cooled further overnight in our on-site cold room (3°C) and processed the following day. Bunch sorting is practiced to make sure only the best grapes are used. We make use of a Delta Oscillys De-stemmer with a very soft action. The grapes are rolled off the stems, preventing the extraction of harsh unwanted phenolics. Grapes go directly into our Bucher Inertys press (inert nitrogen press) where cold maceration on the skins takes place overnight. The press is started the next morning and the juice is pressed off to a stainless-steel tank. Settling takes place over 2 days and the clear juice is racked off to barrel for inoculation. The wines were racked and returned once during the ageing period. Each block is kept separate during the vinification and ageing process and final blending takes place just before bottling. 30% of the wine underwent Malo-Lactic Fermentation.

The Bottelary Hills are extremely diverse in terms of terroir. A wide variety of different slopes, aspects, elevation above sea level, soils, and the influence of both the False Bay to the south, and the cold Atlantic in the west, make for a very intricate array of micro-climates. The Bottelary area forms part of granitic hills and the reddish- and yellowish- brown soils are highly suited to the production of quality wine grapes. The soils are acidic, have great water retention capabilities and are well drained. Soil types include Oakleaf, Tukulu, Hutton and Clovelly. Vineyards in the Bottelary Hills are planted at varying heights from 150m to up to 400m above sea level. All of these factors contribute to crafting unique, distinctive wines with a sense of place.

100% of the wine was aged in 500L French Oak Barrels (50% New Oak, the remainder 2nd fill).