Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chardonnay

Description

Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chardonnay is made from a careful selection of grapes from specially farmed vineyards, delivering the style and quality that the winemakers are aiming for with this range. The vineyard selection range offers expressive flavours, complexity, structure, and cellaring potential. Bottled as a Wine of Origin Western Cape.

Kleine Zalze is a South African winery in the heart of the Cape Winelands. The history of winemaking can be traced back as far as 1695. However, the modern history of the estate began when Kobus Basson and his family bought the property in 1996, and there was a large stride forward. In 1996 the estate was scientifically mapped to find the best terroir for different grape varieties and seventeen years of subsequent investment have seen Kleine Zalze become one of the most highly regarded wineries in South Africa. In September 2022 ownership passed to French-owned AdVini, a world-renowned French wine company, thereby beginning a new chapter for Kleine Zalze Wines. They produce a range of wines from the Cellar Selection up to Project Z.

The winery achieved new heights in 2020 by being named Top Performing Winery of the Year by Platter’s South African Wine Guide, which is the South African bible. More recently, Kleine Zalze won four Double Golds and the Best Achiever award at the highly acclaimed Veritas Awards 2022.

The grapes for the Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chardonnay come mainly from Stellenbosch with a small portion coming from Robertson. The Stellenbosch vineyards are planted in decomposed granite soils, which provide structure and fruit to the wine, whilst the Robertson portion is planted in limestone-based soils providing texture and mineral elements.

After harvest, the grapes were crushed and most of the juice was given extended skin contact for at least 12 hours before it was pressed. Certain portions were “whole bunch” pressed to ensure elegance and finesse. Only the free-run portion of the juice was used for this selection. After the juice has settled, it is racked to a fermentation vessel and inoculated with a slow fermenting yeast strain. The juice was racked into barrel one day after inoculation and left to ferment at low temperature until dry. The wine spends 8 months in barrel before blending and bottling. A combination of 60% new and the rest second and third fill 400l French oak barrels were used.

Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chardonnay is suitable for vegans and vegetarians.