Vinum Chardonnay

Salmon with roasted shiitakes and mushroom sauce.

Founded in 1998 by Alex Dale, Radford Dale set about the Cape in search of exciting vineyard parcels for their chosen specialist varietals. Today, they have two producing wineries. The first is located in Stellenbosch, predominantly focused on sourcing maritime influenced parcels around the Helderberg and Polkadraai. Here, they produce the cult, single vineyard wines of Renaissance Chenin Blanc and Frankenstein Pinotage, and the Radford Dale Vinum range; a set of six wines that consistently overdeliver on style to price. The 2022 vintage marked the maiden release from their own vineyards purchased in Elgin under Radford Dale Organic, with the release of four single varietal Estate wines, the only organic certified vineyards in the region. More recently, they have co-founded South Africa’s first Organic Wine Association. They continue to reintroduce Gamay Noir to the Cape, establishing the first new plantings for some 20 years. It’s a varietal geared up to thrive in warm conditions, and on granite soils. Stylistically, Gamay also embodies Radford Dale’s championing of elegant, refreshing red wines.

Three unique vineyards are dedicated to this Chardonnay, all benefiting from a strong maritime influence. The Polkadraai Hills vineyard is 24 years old & picked earlier, for freshness, with the Heldeberg sites, at 13 and 15 years of age, picked a little later for palate weight & texture. We believe the quartz-rich granite soils bring a mineral expression to the wine. The sites have uninterrupted views South to the Ocean and reflect a cooler character than inland Stellenbosch vineyards. Harvest in 2023 was on schedule, despite earlier véraison compared to 2022. Cool ripening benefited early cultivars, resulting in fantastic quality grapes..

The grapes were all hand-picked at dawn into small lug bins, chilled in our white wine cellar, then hand-fed over a sorting table. Whole bunch pressed, with the free-run juice settled for two days before being gravity-fed into barrels. A combination of 2500L Foudre ofAustrian origin plus 228L and 300L barrels from Burgundian cooperages, ranging in age from 3rd to 6th fill were used. Alcoholic fermentation was entirely carried out in barrel (only using natural ambient yeast) for 8–10 weeks. After 9 months on the lees then racked out of barrel, assembled and settled with no filtration until bottling.