Bartinney Chardonnay 2023

The first vines planted on Bartinney, were Chardonnay, planted in 1990. Each batch is picked when we believe they are fully ripe. The picked grapes are crushed, the juice is settled for 2 days, and then transferred to 225l oak barrels. The barrel blend is up to 34% new. The toasting is very light (blond), and the wood grain extra tight, to avoid overly toast and smoke characteristics which will mask the wines fruit flavour. After fermentation, a portion of the wine goes through spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The wine matures for about 11 months in barrel before it is racked, blended and bottled.

The growing season for the 2023 harvest will be remembered for the hot and dry weather followed by cold and wet periods, starting at the end of January, that persisted to the end of the season, well into autumn. These unfortunate turn of climatic conditions influenced vineyards, differently, depending on their location and cultivar type. Diligent vineyard management was paramount to ensure that the vineyards stayed protected and ripened the grapes sufficiently. The warm dryish winter, resulted in earlier than usual budbreak and flowering. The steady weather pattern continued into veraison across all the cultivars. Chardonnay vineyards flourish in very cold winter conditions, so the warmer winter caused uneven budding and a smaller than usual Chardonnay crop. Luckily Chardonnay was not effected by the rainy weather , starting in the second half of the growing season, so grapes ripened easily, producing flavourful fruit from which full bodied rich wines were made.

11 months

Bartinney Wine Estate is nestled against the steep slopes of Botmaskop in the Banghoek valley. The 29Ha farm comprising 17Ha of vineyards and a floral kingdom of fynbos and indigenous trees, has a uniform terroir. Well drained, deep red gritty soils provide an excellent medium for vineyards to produce good quality grapes.