Tokara Reserve Collection Walker Bay Chardonnay 2009

The wine has a brilliant golden straw colour. The nose is full of complex fruit aromas ranging from notes of lemons and limes, to hints of pineapple and ripe melons. The oak is just supportive with hints of butterscotch, backed bread and toasted almonds. There is a typical aroma of freshly struck flint that is always evident in every vintage of this wine. The wine enters the mouth with a certain amount of power but finishes with restraint and finesse. There are intense flavours of lemon preserve toasted almonds and freshly backed brioche. The wine has a focused mid palate with notes of lime zest and spice and then finishes fresh and crisp.

Enjoy with quail served with saffron, Cape gooseberry and citrus sauce or hickory smoked duck breast with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. It will also pair well with most grilled fish or chicken dishes.

variety : Chardonnay [ 100% Chardonnay ]
winemaker : Miles Mossop
wine of origin : Walker Bay
analysis : alc : 14 % vol  rs : 1.9 g/l  pH : 3.48  ta : 6.0 g/l  va : 0.44 g/l  so2 : 119 mg/l  fso2 : 10 mg/l  
type : White  style : Dry  body : Medium  taste : Fruity  
pack : Bottle  closure : Screwcap  

ageing : Drink now or cellar until 2016 for optimal drinking

in the vineyard : The wine is made from grapes grown on TOKARA’s Siberia Farm in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Walker Bay.This is a barrel selection from 3 vineyards on this property, which cropped at yields of between 5 and 7 t/ha. 2009 was stunning season, with minimal disease pressure throughout the season.

about the harvest: The harvest was relatively dry and warm but not too hot. This resulted in fully ripe grapes with great fruit intensity and good balance in the resulting wines. The grapes were hand picked at optimal ripeness on the 5th and 6th of March, with sugars at around 23 degrees brix between the 5th and 12th March.

in the cellar : The grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and pressed to stainless steel tanks for overnight settling, after which the settled juice was run to barrel with a certain percentage of lees added back. The juice was inoculated in barrel with selected wine yeast strains and fermentation took place at around 18-22°C for 10-15 days. The wine spent 10 months in barrel on the gross lees with regular lees stirring. All barriques were French oak with 25% being new and the balance 2nd and 3rd fill. The wine underwent full malolactic fermentation and was sulphured when the wine was removed from barrel before bottling. It was bottled in December 2009 after stabilisation and filtration.

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