Kershaw Elgin Chardonnay 2013

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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: 10.3 tons selected from 5 small parcels of Chardonnay.

Season: 2012 was a stand out vintage with a combination of cool spring weather giving the shoots plenty of time to break buds and the absence of strong wind resulting in less shoot damage and good flowering. High cold units from cooler winter temperatures also allowed proper vine dormancy. Despite some heat surges in January, Elgin was tempered from the highs experienced elsewhere and, importantly, peak temperatures were only achieved for short periods as the night-time temps were cool and the soils took time to warm up. The extraordinary cool nights experienced in February meant that fruit aromas were preserved and acids retained. At first sight, 2012 seems an exciting and potentially excellent vintage for Chardonnay with low pH, great natural acidity levels and austerity of mineral qualities.

Grapes were hand-picked in the early autumnal mornings.

Hand-Picking Dates: 6th - 23rd March 2012

Brix at Harvest: 22.21 - 24.14

The grapes were placed in 10kg berry baskets and tipped directly into a press and gently whole-bunch pressed up to a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a low juice recovery of 600 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 thus underwent spontaneous fermentation until dry, with malolactic discouraged. The wine rested in barrel for 5 months prior to judicious sulphuring and a further 5 months maturation in barrel before racking, blending and bottling, with each bottle bearing a unique reference number.

Barrel Selection: A small number of artisanal coopers were selected, all from Burgundy and only French oak was chosen. 40% 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: 10.3 tons selected from 5 small parcels of Chardonnay.