Padstal Chardonnay

Pork, Rich fish (salmon, tuna etc), Vegetarian, Poultry

As budding young winemakers back in 2001, we sometimes struggled to find decent wines we could afford. My brother Philip and I were involved with our family winery (Joostenberg Wines) and José was busy at his (Stark-Condé Wines).We weren’t looking for rockstar bottles that cost a fortune. But we had pretty high standards (in our own opinion) and wanted wines we could enjoy with our friends, most of whom were also in the wine industry. We were wine geeks in need of an everyday wine. We saw a niche in the market and got to work but first had to come up with a name for this new project. To keep peace in the families, we took our wives’ initials (we each have one wife!) — and that is how we explained to Marie, Anette and Nicky that we were going to be “busy” most weekends. “It’s for you!” we told them. We immediately got to work in an old tractor shed and that first year, we made a total of 600 cases of Pinotage. – Tyrrel Myburgh, co-founder

The MAN vineyards looked absolutely fantastic throughout the growing season, with full, rich green canopies. Yields were relatively low this year. The quality, though, was overall high. The Chardonnay vineyards are located in the Agter-Paarl region of the Cape Coast. Soils are primarily Malmesbury Shale, which add minerality and fresh acidity. Dry-farming gives low yields or ripe, intensely flavoured grapes.

The grapes were hand harvested and fermention took place in a combination of stainless steel tanks (±85%) and American and French oak (±15%). To preserve freshness, the tank fermented portion had no malolactic fermentation. The remainder is barrel matured with lees stirring for 3 months. After 6 months, the tank and barrel portions were blended together, and the wine was fined and filtered before bottling.