Newton Johnson, Southend Chardonnay 2024

Description

Southend’s vineyards lie in the shadow of the Babylonstoring Mountains in the Upper Hemelen-Aarde Valley and is owned and farmed by our neighbours, the Pringle family. It is a notably cooler slope, a stone’s throw across the river from us, with less sun exposure and consequently slower ripening. It produces wines with sparkling clarity, high-toned fruit flavours, compact structure, and vibrant acidity.

We preserve these features by fermenting in larger format casks that often ferment slowly into the winter and finish in the spring. This parcel takes a steely and light-footed point of difference from the other Chardonnay vineyards of our appellation.

2024 VINTAGE GROWING SEASON & HARVESTING
The peerless 2024 vintage has a close resemblance to a warmer 2017, characterised by its flawless ripening conditions, bringing depth to the wines without being overbearing. The most important precursor was having a decent and uninterrupted winter, seeing ample rain early on and the lowest average temperature since the winter of 2016. Ideal dormancy ensures good fertility in the vines and even budding come springtime. Budding was fairly early due to the early winte r. There was plenty of rain early on in September, compounded by the infamous flood that hit the Hemel-en-Aarde on 24 September, delivering over 400mm of rain in 48 hours.

Besides the extensive damage to roads, bridges and the course of the Onrus river, the vineyards did not see any damage or disease as the temperatures were still too cold for mildew. The rains had dissipated by November, though the water sodden soil and fine weather fuelled the vegetative growth in the vines and the flowering was excellent. The fine weather continued, turning to some warm days in the high 20’s (°C) as veraison was finishing. There were no major rain events approaching harvest and the preceding few weeks of warm weather ensured that ripeness was optimal. Despite the early start to the season, the length of ripening was enough to develop layers of complex flavour.

The Chardonnay for this cuvée was harvested between 8th & 28th February.

LOCATION & CLIMATE
These vineyards lie on the south-facing slope at altitudes of 300m down to 210m, in the porphyritic Granite soils of the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. This appellation ranges from 4 to 8 km in proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. The climate is cool and temperate, where parallel mountain ranges channel the southerly oceangoing winds through the appellation during the summer. These southerly winds in turn cr eate regular sea mists and overcast conditions, moderating the temperatures in the valley. The annual rainfall is 850mm, with 50% falling in the winter months (May – August).

SOIL: Well-drained decomposed granite with heavier, clay -rich subsoil.
ASPECT: South West facing. Slope of 16%.
TRELISSING: 7-wire Vertical Shoot Positioning (VSP) with movable wires
AGE OF VINES: 20 years
PRUNING: Cordon
VINES PER Ha: 3 2 0 0
AVERAGE YIELD: 5.1 tons/Ha (35 hl/Ha)

WINEMAKING
The grapes are handpicked and packed in to small, shallow crates to limit crushing of the bunches. The day’s harvest is cooled down overnight to 8ºC in the winery’s refrigerated cold room. The grape bunches are hand -sorted on a conveyor table and fall directly to the press for whole bunch pressing . The best quality juice (approximately 40% of the press yield) is drained directly to barrel, with the balance settled by temperature only (no enzyme used) and racked the next day to barrel for spontaneous fermentation. No sulphur is used in the winemaking until preparations for bottling, allowing diverse micro-organisms from the grape itself to flourish
unrestrained in the fermentation.

MATURATION & BOTTLING
New oak comprises 7% of the final blend. Matured for 11 months in mostly puncheon (500L) and some barrique (228L) barrels produced in Burgundy. Tighter grained oak is preferred for subtle flavour, with longer seasoning and slower, lower temperature toasting. The wine was blended and kept for further élevage of 5 months in stainless steel. No fining, coarse filtration and sulphur adjustment before bottling.

TASTING NOTES
A wine with energy and intensity. The high-toned, rapier-like lime fruit is buoyed with sharp ginger, white pepper and flint. Crushed stones and saltiness sustain the refreshing appeal. Good weight of flavour in the mid palate boosted with bright acidity and grippy texture.

AGEING POTENTIAL
Best drinking now – 8 years.

ANALYSIS
Alcohol by volume: 13.8%
Total Acidity: 6.1 g/l
pH: 3.31
Residual sugar: 2.2 g/l

Additional information

• Poached or grilled salmon
• Nutty, savoury cheeses like Cheddar and Gruyère
• Creamy poultry dishes or seafood pasta