Crystallum Clay Shales Chardonnay 2023

The Clay Shales Chardonnay is a single-vineyard wine from a site on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge that is ideally located in a mountain shadow, at high altitude and near the ocean. The wine is named after the Bokkeveld shale and clay soils on which it is grown, which combine to provide the perfect base for a balanced, Grand Cru-rivaling wine.

Deeply concentrated and yet so deftly restrained, this wine shows the tropical notes of litchi and banana, a savouriness from lemon thyme and oatmeal and a steely spine of crushed stone and graphite. That tension alongside a citrus peel-textured acidity makes for a mouthwatering and seemingly endless finish. With plenty of structure to age, this promises to be a standout expression of the wine.

This wine was whole-bunch pressed with no enzymes, SO2 or commercial yeasts added at pressing. After an overnight rough-settling, the juice was sent to barrel, with fermentation and ageing taking place over 10 months in a 2600L Foudre.