Deconstructed Chardonnay: Each of the 3 Deconstructed Chardonnays has been sourced from a certain vineyard and a certain clone. Kershaw's aim is to prove that Elgin can fully "adopt" these noble grapes but also to highlight the specific "terroirs" that reflect the intra-regional characteristics in Elgin. More will be forthcoming as his research continues..
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It comes from the Lake District, west of Elgin. Clone CY96 produces aromatic, nervy, elegant, crisp, slightly lower alcohol, balanced wines with a fruity aromatic profile mainly of citrus, peach, and with time giving subtle notes of nuts. The Cartref soils, a mix of decomposed granite, pebbles, and quartz, add delicacy to the wine and increase the intensity of the fruit.
The grapes are picked by hand early in the morning, the whole bunches are placed in small crates, which are transferred directly to the press at a maximum of 0.6 bar or until a concentration of 615 liters per tonne is reached. The juice flows directly into the barrel without the use of pumps, before the sediment settles. Spontaneous fermentation begins. The wine rests in barrels for 4 months before sulphurization and then matures in barrels for another 7 months before bottling.
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Barrels: A small number of barrels were selected, all from Burgundy, only French oak. Importantly, each clone and soil type was micro-distributed as a separate batch. Each lot used an algorithm set up to keep data on which barrels performed best and how many new and how many used barrels were used. Overall, the average in 2018 was 52.5% new oak barrels and 100% of 228 litres.