Thelema "Ed's Reserve" Chardonnay 2010
This wine shows distinctive characters – a limey, peppery, muscatty flavour – typical of this unique vineyard. This is a very fragrant wine, with lovely yeasty flavours, and a velvety mouth feel and a long finish.
Maturation
The track record of this wine indicates cellaring of up to 8 years is well rewarded.
Food Pairing
The silky texture of this wine will match delicate and fine food such as shellfish or carpaccio.
Tasting Notes
| Varietal | Chardonnay – clone ER 166 |
|---|---|
| Root stock | R99 |
| Soil type | Hutton – decomposed granite |
| Age of vines | Planted 1985 |
| Plant density | 3989 vines per hectare |
| Trellising | Vertical hedge |
| Pruning | 2-bud spurs every 12cm |
| Yield | Approximately 6.2 t/ha |
| Irrigation | Supplementary drip |
| Vintage | One of the more difficult vintages in recent years. Warm spells of weather, with random rainy periods during the ripening period. |
| Picking date | 18th February |
| Grape sugar | 22.34 °B |
| Acidity | 6.97 g/l |
| pH at harvest | 3.44 |
| Yeasts | D522 |
|---|---|
| Fermentation temp | About 19 °C |
| Method | De-stalk, crush, overnight skin-contact, pressed, settled in horizontal stainless steel tanks and fermented in 228 L French oak barrels, 10% new wood balance 2nd & 3rd fill barrels. |
| Battonage | Barrels stirred every two weeks to promote yeast autolysis. |
| Second Fermentation | 100% of the bottling completed malolactic fermentation in barrel. |
| Residual Sugar | 1.9 g/l |
|---|---|
| pH | 3.48 |
| Total acid | 6.2 g/l |
| Alcohol | 13.22% by volume |
| Maturation | Drinking well now, and will develop more complexity over the next 3 years |
This wine shows distinctive characters – a limey, peppery, muscatty flavour – typical of this unique vineyard. This is a very fragrant wine, with lovely yeasty flavours, and a velvety mouth feel and a long finish.