Whitehall Chardonnay

Salmon, smoked duck, shellfish

In 1984 Neil Ellis sourced grapes from vineyards not of his own and produced wine in rented cellar space. These grapes were sourced in the Stellenbosch district and meant a lot of nosing around the restrictive quota system prevalent at the time. His vision the pursuit of quality extended out of the cellar and into the vineyards where varieties would excel and best express a particular style of wine reflective of their environment. Today the experience and knowledge of the past are applied to modern techniques and technologies for a new generation of winemaking. “Our vision remains to make distinctive refined wines that are expressive of their terrain and rank amongst South Africa’s finest. A pursuit of quality nothing less.” Neil Ellis

The grapes for this premium Chardonnay is close to the Whitehall farm from where Neil produced the first certified wine from Elgin. These vineyards are positioned on south-facing slopes of which the soil is mainly white mineral sandstone and quartz on a clay sub-base. The vines are trellised and have access to supplementary irrigation.

The wine spent 9 months in 228L French oak barrels.

Harvest in Elgin on Chardonnay started more than a week later than normal on the 3rd of March and carried through until 24 March 2022. Grapes were harvested at 21-22.5 °B with a total acid of 8.5g/l and a pH of 3.10. Yield: 6.5- 8tons/Ha. The grapes were whole bunch and a 100% barrel fermented, using 35% new 228 litre fine-grained oak barrels and the rest in 2nd and 3rd fill oak barrels. 25% went through malolactic fermentation.