Meerlust Chardonnay

Very bright, polished platinum with green, vivacious hue. Complex, appealing nose with pear, citrus and floral notes developing into lemon cream, oatmeal and marzipan richness. On the palate the wine is full bodied & generous, but still sleek and balanced by crisp acidity. There is ripe tropical fruit & creaminess balanced by a pure minerality typical of the variety. The wine has a long, very pleasant lingering finish.

Sourced from two vineyards on the Estate, the first planted in 1991 (22 years old in year of vintage) situated on alluvial Dundee soils which produces the rich textured mouth feel and minerality.The younger vineyard was planted in 2007 on Cartref soils giving a greater fruit expression. Crop thinning occurred at pruning and at veraison. Five separate picking stages at optimum ripeness.

Hand-picked.  Partial whole bunch pressing and static settling overnight. Some solids remained in the juice. Transferred to 55% new tight grain Allier French Oak and 45% second fill 300 litre barrels for fermentation. Half of the barrels were inoculated with selected Chardonnay yeast, while the other half underwent un-inoculated, spontaneous fermentation. After fermentation, the wine was given a racking to remove heavy lees and returned to barrel for malo-lactic fermentation. The wine was barrel matured for 12 months before bottling.