2019 Sandford Chardonnay Cape Winemakers Guild

Winemaker Gordon Newton Johnson. 100% Chardonnay. Their best-quality juice fraction is whole-bunch pressed directly to barrel without prior settling. Spontaneous fermentation, no sulphites used during the winemaking. Aged 11 months in custom-made burgundian barrels (40% new) and then a further five months in old oak. No fining, coarse filtration or sulphites applied before bottling. RS 2.47 g/l, TA 6.53 g/l, pH 3.35. 636 bottles made. As with the Warwick White Lady, plenty of overt oak. But this has something that The White Lady doesn't have. An underlying tension. The richness of the wine is etched with brightness and interleaved with greengage and kiwi and Persian sweet lime, bitterness and brine. For an oaky New World Chardonnay, this has real vitality. The finish snaps into place. It seems to brim with the promise of stories, smoke scrawled into the finish. (TC)