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False Bay Chrystalline Chardonnay 2017

This wine gives notes of lime, green apple and stone fruit on the nose. With the longer spontaneous fermentation, the wine develops much more complexity and a beautiful length on the palate without being fatty… just well balanced with great freshness and texture. Unoaked and understated, but persistent on the finish.

variety : Chardonnay [ 100% Chardonnay ]
winery : Waterkloof
winemaker : Nadia Barnard
wine of origin : Western Cape
analysis : alc : 14.01 % vol  rs : 1.8 g/l  pH : 3.46  ta : 1.8 g/l  
type : White  style : Dry  body : Light  taste : Fruity  
pack : Bottle  size : 750ml  closure : Screwcap  

ageing : Drink now!
about the harvest: What looked like an average harvest, due to the winter drought, turned out surprisingly well. This also attested yet again, that Mother Nature always keep us on our toes. The 2016 Cape winter did not see a lot of rainfall – about half the average – and it was also not exceptionally cold. We barely saw any snow on the mountains. Spring started early which lead to an early bud burst and flowering. Thankfully we did not experience strong winds during this period, which helped with an even berry set. Seeing that we already experienced drought conditions during the berry formation stage, cell formation was also impacted to produce small cells from the start. In January, we received a little rain which assisted the vine to grow without being too stressed. During the rest of the season we had beautiful cool evenings and mild day temperatures and this ensured a proper, even ripening process. We started picking at the end of January and were very happy to see little to no rot; small berries with a lot of concentration, and great acids!
in the cellar : Hand harvesting was done early in the morning. Grapes were de-stemmed and the juice separated from the skins by using a bag press. Settling took place overnight at a temperature of approximately 12°C for around 12 hours. From there we racked off the clean juice to let it ferment in a stainless steel tank without the addition of any yeast. After natural fermentation, it was left on the primary lees for another 3 months in order to add more weight and complexity to the wine. It was then sulphured and left to age on the fine lees until bottling.
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False Bay Chrystalline Chardonnay 2017
Chardonnay