Zoetrope 2014

Chardonnay

Tasting Notes

Zoetrope takes its name from an old mechanical device used for making simple animations. The wine from this vineyard form part of the blend for our ‘Rocking Horse’ and play an integral part in animating this wine.

The wine is sourced from a single parcel of old bushvine chardonnay planted on the van der Stel pass above Botriver. The nose of the wine is very complex showing notes of exotic wood, almond meal, honey, cinnamon, star anise, oatmeal and citrus. The palate is delicate but has a wonderful core of fruit, and the wine finishes on a good caper­berry salinity.

Nuts & Bolts

Chardonnay – 'Stelkloof' Vineyard 100% 23 years old – clay/shale soils

WO Overberg (single vineyard)
Alcohol – 12.4%; Residual sugar – 1.9 g/L; Total acidity – 5.3 g/L; pH 3.42

About The Wine

An abundant 2014 crop from the vineyard has allowed us to release this wine as a single vineyard bottling, and allowed us to showcase this wonderful, idiosyncratic block of chardonnay. The block has always been meticulously tended by Oom ‘Koosie’ Kellerman despite sheep farming being his first love.

True to our style, the winemaking is extremely simple, with the main focus of the work to ensure that the grapes are picked at the right time and delivered to the cellar in good health. Being a dryland vineyard in a hot and arid climate, it is essential to pick this vineyard at the right time to preserve its freshness and wonderful character.

The grapes are whole bunch pressed and no treatments or additions are used on the juice.

The juice is then racked off the heavy solids and taken to smaller 228L burgundian pieces where it is fermented naturally, and allowed to go through subsequent malolactic fermentation. A little sulphur dioxide is added during the winter, and a little bit again before bottling, along with a light filtration, making up the sum total of interventions on this wine.