Tokara Reserve Collection Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2011

The wine displays a brilliant golden straw colour.

The nose of this wine is complex and intense. There are intense yellow fruit notes such as pineapple with hints of orange marmalade and lemon preserve. The oak is evident on the nose as a hint of roasted pine nuts, and freshly buttered toast. The palate is rich, full and complex. There are intense flavours that mirror the aromas on the nose. The toast oak adds a backbone to the wine while the crisp firm acidity adds support on the finish with the oak notes of toasted almonds.

This wine can be served with roasted quail with a citrus sauce, seared tuna or Norwegian salmon.

variety : Chardonnay [ 100% Chardonnay ]
winemaker : Miles Mossop
wine of origin : Stellenbosch
analysis : alc : 14.28 % vol  rs : 2.2 g/l  pH : 3.33  ta : 7.0 g/l  va : 0.46 g/l  
type : White  style : Dry  body : Full  taste : Fragrant   wooded
pack : Bottle  closure : Screwcap  

ageing : Best drunk from 2013 till 2018.

in the vineyard : The grapes originated from three vineyards in close proximity to each other on the south facing slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain on TOKARA's Stellenbosch property. The vineyards are at altitudes of between 350 and 400 meters above sea level and the soil type is predominantly Oakleaf with various amounts of gravel and stone content.

about the harvest: Cropping levels are at around 3.5 to 7 t/ha.

The grapes were hand picked at optimal ripeness between the 10th and 15 February. The time of picking is decided by flavour development and phenolic ripeness. The grapes were picked at sugar levels of 23.6° brix with acids of 6.5g/l.

in the cellar : The grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and pressed followed by cold settling overnight. 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. Fermentation took place from anything between 15 days and 35 days. The wines spent 11 months in barrel on the gross lees with regular lees stirring. All barriques were French oak from various burgundy coopers with 36% being new and the balance 2nd and 3rd fill barrels. The wines underwent maturation in barrel without sulphur being added and 30% of the wine underwent malolactic fermentation.

The wine was bottled in January 2012 after stabilisation and filtration.

15 000 bottles were produced.

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