Chardonnay

Salmon with roasted shiitakes and mushroom sauce.

Fruit from two exceptional, ocean facing sites on the foothills of the Helderberg is used for this Chardonnay. With the vines now 24 years old, the wine that these vines produce shows the typical intensity that one can expect from mature Chardonnay vineyards. The crunchy, granite derived soil type (Clovelly) imparts a lovely, flinty minerality to the wine and proximity to sea means the wine naturally possesses a bracing freshness.

Racked out of barrel after 9 months, assembled and settled with a light bentonite fining and no filtration until bottling at the beginning of December 2017.

The grapes were all hand-picked at dawn into small lug-bins, chilled in our white wine cellar, then hand-fed over a sorting table. Whole bunch pressed, with the free-run juice settled for two days before being gravity-fed into barrel. Alcoholic fermentation entirely carried out in barrel (only using natural ambient yeast) for 8–10 weeks. Cellar maintained very cold at about 10° Celsius (fermentation peaking at about 18°), then temperature dropped to 7°. Battonnage was applied monthly only during the first 2 months.

Founded in 1998 by Alex Dale, Radford Dale set about the Cape in search of exciting vineyard parcels for their chosen specialist varietals. Today, they have two producing wineries. The first is located in Stellenbosch, predominantly focused on sourcing maritime influenced parcels around the Helderberg and Polkadraai. Here, they produce the cult, single vineyard wines of Renaissance Chenin Blanc and Frankenstein Pinotage, and the Radford Dale Vinum range; a set of six wines that consistently overdeliver on style to price. The 2022 vintage marked the maiden release from their own vineyards purchased in Elgin under Radford Dale Organic, with the release of four single varietal Estate wines, the only organic certified vineyards in the region. More recently, they have co-founded South Africa’s first Organic Wine Association. They continue to reintroduce Gamay Noir to the Cape, establishing the first new plantings for some 20 years. It’s a varietal geared up to thrive in warm conditions, and on granite soils. Stylistically, Gamay also embodies Radford Dale’s championing of elegant, refreshing red wines.