Kershaw Elgin Chardonnay 2014

Prescient Chardonnay Report - 94/100 
Platters - 4.5 stars
2015 Tim Atkin - 96/100

In 2011, owner Richard Kershaw MW, established Richard Kershaw Wines (RKW) to create clonally selected, site specific, cool climate wine paradigms from apposite noble grapes i.e. ones with the ability to produce world-class examples. SA’s coolest wine district, Elgin Valley, reflected these principles benefitting from higher altitude, ocean proximity, specific cloud cover sequencing, high cold units and a large diurnal range, enabling the germane grapes, Chardonnay and Syrah, to show a sense of place.

Varietal Information: 100% Chardonnay made from Dijon clones CY96, CY95 and CY76.

Wine Of Origin: Elgin, Western Cape, South Africa 

Total Vineyard Production: 15.1 tons selected from 5 small parcels of Chardonnay.

Season: An exceptionally wet and cold winter resulted in excellent winter dormancy. Further wet and cold conditions continued late into spring retarding budburst by several weeks. Although disease incidence was higher, the warmer weather that eventually arrived in December enabled the vines to recover. An incredibly wet January kept growers on their toes but February’s warm, sunny weather allowed véraison to proceed late but under ideal conditions for both the Chardonnay and Syrah. The wet soils meant that growth was put into shoots rather than bunches, which despite hindering sugar accumulation, did mean an excellent slow phenolic ripeness made even slower by cooler conditions in early March. This double whammy of slow flavour accrual and preservation of high natural acidity has meant 2014 is one of the top Chardonnay vintages of the last decade.

Grapes were hand-picked in the early autumnal mornings.

Hand-Picking Dates: 26th February – 8th March 2014

Brix at Harvest: 22.0 - 22.93

Grapes were placed into small lug baskets and tipped directly into a press before being gently whole-bunch pressed up to a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a low juice recovery of 580 litres per ton was obtained. The juice gravity-flowed directly to barrel (no pumps were used at all) without settling. The unclarified juice had no enzymes, yeast or acid added to it and therefore underwent spontaneous fermentation until dry, with malolactic discouraged. The wine rested in barrel for 3 months prior to judicious sulphuring and a further 7 months maturation in barrel before racking, blending and bottling. 

Barrel Selection: A small number of artisanal coopers were selected, all from Burgundy and only French oak was chosen. 35% of the oak was new with the remainder split into 2nd and 3rd fill barrels of predominantly 228 litres with 10% left to ferment and mature in stainless steel.

Total Production: 9340 bottles all individually marked on the label.