Winemaker Notes
This full bodied, rich Chardonnay offers a powerful citrus and steely backbone. Classic toasty and butterscotch-like characteristics merge with mineral undertones. A good balance of oak is followed with abundant fruit.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Chardonnay Bayten begins with delightful French baking spices of cinnamon, vanilla and cardamom, expressing first on the nose before sweet citrus and pomaceous characteristics sway with elements of lemon pastry cream, caramel apple pie and graham crackers. Medium to full-bodied, the wine has a rich, creamy texture with elements of white spice and minerality that sway with a soft waxiness across the mid-palate. The finish concludes with tones of Meyer lemon and an oaky essence of spiced chai tea. Bravo! It's delicious, balanced and delivers well for the price. Rating: 91+
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Wine Spectator
Nicely crafted, this is a riper style, but with great vibrancy from the acidity. Features a creamy texture and notes of persimmon and brioche, with salted butter accents in the background. Balanced, long and creamy, with a seductive savory mineral element on the long finish. Drink now through 2026.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
One of the most famous and celebrated wine regions imported throughout Europe during the 18th century, Constantia was founded in 1685 by a Dutch governor named Simon van der Stel who ran a successful wine farm for many years.
Constantia vineyards, planted in ancient soil beds, climb up the east-facing slopes of the Constantiaberg, where the vines receive cool sea breezes blowing in from False Bay.