Winemaker Notes
A particularly bright, tight, and pure Chardonnay with marked elegance. Clean and lifted primary fruit character and citrus blossom introduce a long, gentle palate, very expressive but also deliciously classical and restrained. This is a graceful and age-worthy wine with an almost crystalline purity.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Beautifully precise aromas of orange rind, crisp yellow apple, soft toast and delicate wood spice dance on the bouquet of this lovely Chardonnay. The palate is focused and pure, with ample ripe fruit that is framed by bright, supportive acidity and a pronounced mineral impression that unfolds on the long, evolving close alongside a kiss of saline.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pale straw colored, the 2019 Chardonnay opens with aromas of lemon pastry cream, hints of marshmallow and soft baking spice essences in the glass. Medium-bodied, the wine offers flavors of beeswax, citrus blossom, yellow apple and Myer lemon on the palate along with succulent acidity and ends with a soft spiciness and lingering notions of lemon seed and cinnamon. Half of the wine spent six months in amphora and the other half in François Frères French oak. The 2019 marks the start of their newest bottling, which shows a lovely, food-driven wine that makes me crave shellfish. Rating: 90+
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Wine Spectator
A vibrant, light- to medium-bodied white, with sleek acidity creating a mouthwatering frame for flavors of green fig, blood orange, matchstick and a rich hint of hazelnut, ending with a creamy, mineral-laced finish. Drink now through 2025. 148 cases made, 100 cases imported.
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.