Bouchard Finlayson - 'Crocodile's Lair' Chardonnay, Overberg - 2018 (750ml)

Wine Composition

100% Chardonnay

Winemakers Comments

Sleek and refined, a most enjoyable spicy lemon drop aroma complexity announces white peach, nectarine and pear flavour delight. A refreshing salinity graces a lasting finish. Aging potential is excellent.

Technical Analysis

Alcohol Percentage

13.66%

pH

3.38

RS

2.9 g/l

TA

6.0 g/l

Vintage

Yet another low yielding vintage from this very consistent vineyard. Fruit health however proved to be excellent with the smaller bunches providing great flavour concentration. The first pick was as early as the last day in February and continued over the next two weeks.

Cellar Techniques

Harvest is invariably an exciting time awash with smells emanating from every corner of the winery, but few can rival the magical smell of fermenting Chardonnay in oak barrels. Bunches are added to the press intact and the juices extracted from the berries by long and gentle pressing, yielding more clarity and flavour complexities. Fermentation happens in oak barrels varying in age between new and fifth fill and typically lasts for a week. Thereafter, depending on vintage needs, a proportion of the barrels are prevented from completing malo-lactic fermentation, thus retaining palate freshness and gaining fruit focus. The final blend is racked from barrel following eight months maturation without any stirring of the lees and bottled with a light filtration.

Winemaker

Name - Peter Finlayson

Winery

Established in 1989, Bouchard Finlayson is a boutique winery dedicated to the making of Pinot noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc wines of outstanding quality.
Located in the wine ward of Walker Bay, an hour and a half from Cape Town, the 125-hectare property currently has 22 hectares under vines, the rest is mountain land, covered by the spectacular indigenous 'fynbos' flora of the Western Cape.

Bouchard Finlayson's flagship wine is the Galpin Peak Pinot Noir, which has won many an award and accolade. Growing on the slopes of Galpin Peak, repeated vintages of this path-blazing wine continue to reflect a true celebration of Pinot-crafting, consistently endorsing the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley as a jewel in the hunt for this elusive grape.

Bouchard Finlayson is renowned as one of South Africa's top wineries and this can be attributed to their philosophy and focus to produce wines of the finest quality.