Wine Composition
100% Chardonnay
Winemakers Comments
Carl van der MerweGolden with green hues. Hot toasted brioche with zesty marmalade. The backbone of lime and lemongrass with floral notes of honeysuckle and frangipani on the palate. Warm, rich vanilla and a creamy almond finish.
Previous Awards
94 Points Tim Atkin MW 2018
Gold Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2018
Technical Analysis
Alcohol Percentage
13.91%
TA
5.5 g/l
pH
3.36
RS
3.1 g/l
Cellar Techniques
The grapes were hand-picked and the whole bunch pressed. Juice was transferred to French oak barrels with minimal settling. Fermentation occurred naturally in French oak barrels of which 30% was new. About 70% of the volume completed Malolactic fermentation during 10-month ageing on the gross lees. The wine was bottled with minimal stabilization and clarified without filtration.
2017 was another hot and dry vintage in the Cape. Although the daytime temperatures were warm, evening temperatures were much cooler than normal resulting in wines with incredible weight and texture, yet with great acidity and length. The dryness of the season resulted in minimal disease pressure with fruit arriving at the winery in very good condition. The grapes were handpicked and selected in the early morning at between 22º and 23º Balling.
Winemaker
Name - Carl van der Merwe
Winery
DeMorgenzon, ‘the morning sun,’ was so named as it is the first part of the Stellenboschkloof valley to see the sun because of its high altitude and aspects. We cover the top southern and eastern slopes of Ribbokkop, overlooking the pinnacle of Kanonkop from where a cannon was fired to alert the farms in the region that a ship had put into Table Bay. The first road from Cape Town to Stellenbosch ran through the Stellenbosch Kloof.
In 2003 Wendy and Hylton Appelbaum bought DeMorgenzon and have since transformed DeMorgenzon into a 224-acre garden vineyard, where abundant wildflowers grow between the vines.
