Meerlust Chardonnay 2019

Very bright, polished platinum with green, vivacious hue. Complex, appealing nose with pear, citrus and floral notes developing into lemon cream, oatmeal and marzipan richness. On the palate the wine is medium bodied and linear but retains generous focused citrus fruit flavours with sleek, balanced and crisp acidity. The wine remains vivacious and fresh on the finish with clean citrus fruit and stony minerality. The wine has a long, very pleasant lingering finish. Decanting and exposure to air opens the aroma and palate of the wine.

Some solids remained in the juice. Transferred to 56% new tight grain Allier French Oak and 44% second fill 300 litre barrels for fermentation. Half of the barrels were inoculated with selected Chardonnay yeast, while the other half underwent un-inoculated, spontaneous fermentation. After fermentation, the wine was given a racking to remove heavy lees and returned to barrel for malo- lactic fermentation. The wine was barrel matured for 9 months before bottling.