Wild Yeast Chardonnay

Ideal with fresh seafood—such as shellfish, monkfish or richer fish dishes—light poultry, and soft bloomy cheeses like Brie or Vacherin. Its mineral freshness and textured body also make it an excellent match for creamy crustacean sauces or gently spiced dishes.

Sourced from Chardonnay vines aged 16–21 years (clone CY5 on 101/14 rootstock), planted in rocky, calcareous soils on gentle southerly slopes in Robertson within the Breede River Valley. Typical yields are around 6 t/ha. The climate features moderate summers with cool nights and southeasterly winds.

No oak ageing was applied. Instead, the wine remained on lees for ten months post‑fermentation in cement vessels, contributing texture and complexity.

Harvested during nighttime in February 2023. Fermentation took place completely in underground cement tanks using natural native yeasts, a slow anaerobic process lasting 60 days. Full malolactic fermentation proceeded naturally. After fermentation, the wine spent ten months on lees before bottling; bentonite fining and estate-level 2.5 micron filtration were applied, but no oak was used.

Set in the heart of the mountain-ringed Robertson Valley in the Western Cape of South Africa, Springfield Estate is a family-run wine farm owned by ninth-generation descendants of French Huguenots, who came to South Africa from the Loire in 1688 with bundles of vines under their arms. The farm has been in the family since 1898 and today, using a combination of sometimes risky winemaking techniques, traditional methods and modern technology, along with a sense of practicality and dogged determination borne from living off the land all their lives, the Bruwer family is able to handcraft wine true to its motto: Made on Honour.