A fresh, elegantly oaked, limey and delicious Chardonnay – more to the serious side of things. Read the story or listen to the voice note below.

The Story

Seelug 2022 – the first vintage of something special. First things first though – some relevant terminologies: Off-shore wind – air movement off-the-shore, into-the-ocean. On-shore wind – air movement from-the-ocean, onto-the-shore. Chop/wit pertjies/white horses – Little waves produced by long distance air movement over large expanses of open ocean surfaces. Sampling – The picking of random grape berries from a vineyard in order to get a representable sample to determine ripeness. Seelug – Sea Air.

One hot day, during the harvest of ’22, I was sampling a little (as yet) un-named Chardonnay vineyard which a good friend had told me about. Situated on the lower slopes of the Helderberg, it overlooks False Bay. Glancing over towards the ocean that day, I could clearly see that the off-shore wind was blowing. This was good news to the Strand local I am, as the elusive off-shore wind grooms the waves, making them perfect for my local surf spot. I made a mental note to get a move-on with my sampling, no time to lose. But 20 minutes later, as I once again raised my head from my berry-picking, grape-squashing exercise, I glanced over the bay. D’oh! (as Homer Simpson would say) – the wind had turned onshore. I could clearly see the tell-tale “wit perdjies” on the horizon heading towards shore. In a few minutes the perfectly groomed waves would be destroyed. Deflated, I carried on with the task at hand. Then, another 20 minutes later it hit me – SEELUG! It suddenly felt like someone was spraying my sun-baked face with a cool, misty oyster extract – a fragrance of fresh, salty, damp bamboo… So whilst the onshore might be wrecking waves, it simultaneously pushes the hot air inland and hugs every Chardonnay plant in that vineyard with a fragranced coolness which not many vines ever experience. Seelug 2022 – A fresh, elegantly oaked, limey and delicious Chardonnay – more to the serious side of things.

Technical Information

Cultivar: Chardonnay (100%)

Vintage: 2022

Region: Stellenbosch

Vineyard: Single vineyard trellised Chardonnay on the foothills of the Helderberg facing False Bay.

Winemaking: The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness and cooled overnight to 4 degrees celsius. The next morning the grapes were pressed as whole bunches. The juice underwent spontaneous fermentation in older French oak as well as 40% new barrels. Deep winter the wine received one sulfur addition. 10 months on the leese, blended and bottled.

Alcoholic Strenght: 13%/vol

Acidity: 5.44g/l

PH: 3.51

Reducing Sugar: 2.7g/l

Free SO2: 25ppm

Total SO2: 75ppm

Volatile Acidity: 0.54g/l

Closure: Natural cork

Vegan: Yes