KWV The Mentors Chardonnay 2012

This is a well-balanced and medium bodied wine that displays the true characters of cool climate Chardonnay. On the nose there are beautiful floral, citrus blossom and apricot aromas with fresh lime and mineral tones. This elegant wine has subtle hints of cedary oak and raw almonds with a lively, lingering finish.

Enjoy on its own or with salads, light white meat dishes or Thai food.

variety : Chardonnay [ 100% Chardonnay ]

winery : The Mentors

winemaker : The Winemaking Team

wine of origin : Elgin

analysis : alc : 13.4 % vol rs : 4.03 g/l pH : 3.17 ta : 6.78 g/l

type : White wooded

pack : Bottle size : 0 closure : Cork

AWARDS

Veritas Wine Awards 2013 - Silver
International Wine and Spirits Competition 2013 - Silver
Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2013 - Bronze
Decanter World Wine Awards 2013 - Silver

ageing : Whilst the wine can be enjoyed now, it can benefit from bottle aging for 3-5 years.br / br /

in the vineyard :

Wine of Origin: 100% Elgin

Vintage conditions:
The winter preceding the 2012 vintage was characterized by far lower than average rainfall. This trend continued into the summer, resulting in vineyards showing signs of lower soil moisture by way of the reduced berry size and bunch weight. A cooler ripening season with even temperatures led to steady and measured ripening of the grapes. Overall, the smaller berry size and lower yields promise great concentration, good quality and intense colour in the 2012 vintage wines.

Treatment in the Vineyards:
Vineyards are hand pruned and harvested. Good pre-harvest moisture in the soil provided resistance against the late season heat waves. Together with the healthy canopy, grapes were left longer on the vine to ensure that optimal ripeness was reached at harvest.

about the harvest: Machine and hand harvested.

in the cellar : Wine making:
The wine is a blend of two vineyards from the Elgin region; both components were fermented in barrel. A total 80% of the blend was fermented with an indigenous yeast strain to enhance the texture and mouth feel of the wine and the other 20% was inoculated with commercial yeast to ensure maximum cultivar-derived fruit flavours and freshness. Only 10% of the wine was allowed to undergo partial malolactic fermentation to add complexity to the final blend.

Maturation:
The wine was matured for nine months in 50% first fill, 30% second and 20% third-fill barrels.

Bottling date:
January 2013

Winemaker’s Comments:
Producing a Chardonnay under the Mentor label has been a vision and journey for a couple of years. The whole voyage began by experimenting with grapes from various vineyard sites and applying different vinification techniques to them. There was the skillful selection of oak by cooper, forest type and toasting level - all to ensure that the true grape attributes and fruit characteristics are complimented and amplified by the oak. To achieve our vision, we kept in mind that Chardonnay is known to be more easily influenced by winemaking techniques. Thus the reasoning behind vinifying the same juice as four separate components, then blending them back together proportionally.

All of this was done with the sole purpose to produce a world class, stylistic wine filled with individuality.

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