Estate Reserve Chardonnay

Veal, chicken, lobster and crab.

Winemaker Dirk and assistant Lehandri endeavour to make Glenelly wines as naturally as possible with wild yeast fermentation and no acidification. The team follows a minimal intervention approach to winemaking yet intensive sorting and care is taken when receiving the grapes. We use France’s most recognised coopers (mostly from Taransaud, Boutes and Sylvain) to ensure a gentle and precise elevage, preserving the identity of the terroir of Glenelly. Hygiene is of utmost importance in the cellar and a combination of both hot water and ozonated water is used for cleaning.

Following harvest 2021 the conditions were cool and dry, leading to later leaf fall than usual. Budding was even but occurred 7 days later than for the previous vintage. Continued low temperatures in spring, meant that flowering was delayed by 10 days. Significant rainfall had a challenging effect on flowering and berry set. Moderate temperatures throughout the early summer ensured a balanced growth. January and February were marked by dry and hot weather spell, with multiple heat spikes occurring over this period. However, even with those spikes, we did not see a significant acceleration in ripening. The yields were small but of high quality and picking had to be timed carefully to ensure freshness in the resulting wines.

The wine was left in barrel, on its lees, for 11 months prior to racking, blending, and bottling. In total, 20% new oak was used in the final blend and due to the lower natural acidity of this vintage, only 18% of the wine completed malolactic fermentation.

The grapes were whole bunch pressed and settled without enzymes. The juice was transferred to 500L French oak barrels and a 5,100L Foudre, where fermentation occurred naturally.