Winemaker Notes
Bright, vibrant natural acidity and a marked dry minerality combine with structural length and complexity in this elegant, classically styled wine.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Instantly pleasurable in the glass, the 2021 Chardonnay is fresh with yellow fruit essences that sway with a crystalline purity. Medium-bodied, the wine is complex with bright, energetic acidity that unwinds over the long, lingering, food-friendly finish. This Chardonnay is a masterclass in possessing power and elegance.
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James Suckling
Inviting aromas of lemon peel, white peaches, sweet thyme, and lavender. Medium-bodied with a silky texture. Bright, expressive, and a bit stony. Subtle tannins give lovely structure and length to the charming fresh fruit.
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Wine Spectator
An elegant white, fresh and focused, with deftly knit layers of ripe yellow plum and apple, salted Marcona almond, honeysuckle and verbena expanding on the palate and through the spice- and mineral-laced finish. Drink now through 2028. 3,700 cases made, 700 cases imported.
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Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of cedar, butter and linden tea emerge from the glass. This is a Chardonnay from the cool climate Hemel-en-AardeValley. Bright acidity backs a creamy palate of lime, herbs and oak spices.
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.
With an important wine renaissance in full swing, impressive red and white bargains abound in South Africa. The country has a particularly long and rich history with winemaking, especially considering its status as part of the “New World.” In the mid-17th century, the lusciously sweet dessert wines of Constantia were highly prized by the European aristocracy. Since then, the South African wine industry has experienced some setbacks due to the phylloxera infestation of the late 1800s and political difficulties throughout the following century.
Today, however, South Africa is increasingly responsible for high-demand, high-quality wines—a blessing to put the country back on the international wine map. Wine production is mainly situated around Cape Town, where the climate is generally warm to hot. But the Benguela Current from Antarctica provides brisk ocean breezes necessary for steady ripening of grapes. Similarly, cooler, high-elevation vineyard sites throughout South Africa offer similar, favorable growing conditions.
South Africa’s wine zones are divided into region, then smaller districts and finally wards, but the country’s wine styles are differentiated more by grape variety than by region. Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault, is the country’s “signature” grape, responsible for red-fruit-driven, spicy, earthy reds. When Pinotage is blended with other red varieties, like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah or Pinot Noir (all commonly vinified alone as well), it is often labeled as a “Cape Blend.” Chenin Blanc (locally known as “Steen”) dominates white wine production, with Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc following close behind.