Full, fruity nose, with whiffs of pineapple, pear and honey. Mediumbodied, balance between fruit acidity and touch of residual sugar. Citrus, nettle and honeyed tones on soft, dry finish.
Enjoy on its own or with seafood, white meat dishes such as chicken and pasta as well as with salads.
variety : Chardonnay [ 100% Chardonnay ]
winemaker : Philip Jordaan & Shawn Thompson
wine of origin : Breede River
analysis : alc : 13.75 % vol rs : 4.5 g/l pH : 3.41 ta : 6.0 g/l
type : White style : Dry wooded
pack : Bottle closure : Cork
in the vineyard : Background
Du Toitskloof Wine Cellar (DTK) was established by six wine farmers as a cooperative winery in 1962. Today it has 22 members whose vineyards all lie within a 10 km radius of the cellar. It is located near the town of Rawsonville in the Breede River Valley, at the entrance to the Du Toitskloof Mountain Pass. The stony soils of the area are ideally suited to grape growing. DTK's award-winning wines are known for their excellent quality at affordable prices, and during the last five years it has been rated the South African cellar offering the best value by WINE magazine, three times. The cellar produces some 10 million litres of wine a year from 13 500 tons of grapes, of which 60% is white and 40%, red. Its major white cultivar is Sauvignon blanc, followed by Chardonnay, Chenin blanc and Semillon. The main red cultivars are Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinotage.
In the vineyards
The grapes were all harvested from farms predominantly from the cool mountain slopes and from vines between 10 and 15 years old, growing in a mix of alluvial and sandy clay soil allowing for moderate water retention. The vines were mostly grafted on Richter 110/99 rootstock and received supplementary irrigation based on hydrometer readings. The wines were trellised with vertical shoot positioning to achieve well aired canoping and to achieve full ripeness of the grapes.
in the cellar : After crushing the juice was pumped to an enclosed press where it was kept on the skins for 24 hours to allow for optimal flavour extraction. The juice was cooled to -4° C and kept at that temperature for two to three weeks when all excess water in the juice was frozen, a practice which increases the flavour concentration and the sugar level. The juice was then pumped out of the cold tanks and the temperature allowed to rise to 8° to 10° C after which it was inoculated with natural yeast strains. 50% of the juice underwent fermentation in French oak and spent three months on the lees. The remainder was fermented with select yeast at 16 to 18° C for approximately two weeks, left on the lees for four to six weeks and further matured in barrels for four months.