You know how I love my wine – and I am just crazy about the adorable packaging that comes along with each bottle of Vriesenhof wine – yup (picture below) it’s made to look like a milk carton, and every time I receive a media drop I laugh my head off just unwrapping the box, ha ha!

Released in February 2018, the Vriesenhof Unwooded Chardonnay is light and refreshing and bursting with fruit. The grapes, grown on the south facing slopes of the vineyards, have all the advantages needed to produce wines of exceptional character and quality.

Winemaker Nicky Claasens said the drought conditions which ravaged parts of the Cape meant that the grape composition was different to previous years. “However, the fruit was beautiful and compact. Although it was a difficult vintage, the Unwooded Chardonnay 2018 turned out to be a wine which is rich in character and style,” he said.

Made with 100% Chardonnay grapes, Vriesenhof Unwooded Chardonnay 2018 has beautiful aromas of citrus and gooseberries, and flavours of pear and white peach, with a lingering lemon freshness on the palate.

Claasens says the wine was given a 24-hour settling period before being racked off the lees. “It is inoculated with specific yeast strains before being fermented at 12-17 degree Celsius for two weeks.” The wine underwent partial malolactic fermentation. It is then racked off its lees, and fine, healthy lees added back to the tank and kept on this lees for about six months.

Ideal for drinking now or for the next three years, Vriesenhof Unwooded Chardonnay is the ideal partner for sushi, fish, salads or simply a glass on its own as a pre-dinner aperitif.

RSP: R100 – Unwooded Chardonnay

Purchase Vriesenhof at: Norman Goodfellows. Ultra Liquors, Makro, Wine Concepts or online HERE…