Tokara, Reserve Collection Chardonnay 2025

Description

Tokara’s sought-after and award-winning Reserve Collection consists of expressive and layered wines that showcase the unique attributes of terroir specific, single-vineyard offerings and are produced in limited quantities.

ORIGIN
This Chardonnay is made from grapes grown on Tokara’s Stellenbosch farm on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain.

SOILS
The soils are all Oakleaf from Granitic origin with varying levels of Sandstone pebbles in the profile. It is a deep clay rich soil, with gravelly elements.

SLOPES
The vineyard sites vary between South-East and North-West aspects at altitudes between 300 and 360 m above sea level.

CROPPING AND HARVESTING
The vines cropped between 6 and 7 tons per hectare. All grapes were handpicked in two separate passes on the 19th and 26th of February at optimal
flavour and ripeness with sugars between 22.7- and 23.4-degrees brix and 6.4 to 7.0 g/l acid.

WINEMAKING
The grapes were de-stemmed, crushed and pressed to stainless steel tanks for settling overnight or whole bunch pressed after a night in the cold room with
one night’s settling and subsequent racking. Only the free run juice from the best blocks is used for the Reserve Collection Chardonnay. The juice from the settled batches was then racked and run off to barrel for fermentation with selected yeast. After fermentation the wine was topped and kept on the lees with lees stirring for an initial 4 months followed by a quieting period of a further 7 months. Total barrel time was 11 months. 100% of the barrels completed malolactic fermentation. The barrels were all tight grain French oak, Burgundy size and toast. 32% were new the rest were 2nd and 3rd fill barrels. The wine was bottled in February 2026.

TASTING NOTES
This wine displays a light gold colour. Aromas of grilled lemon, mandarin blossom and crème anglaise emanate from the glass. The wine enters the palate with ripe yellow citrus flavours leading to a silky mid-palate and hint of caramelised sugar. There is a continuous saline focus and feeling of freshness throughout that suggests this wine will age beautifully for at least a decade.

Food pairing: Best served with sole meunière, or soft shelled crab and fennel seafood pasta.

ANALYSIS
Alc. Vol % – 14%
Residual Sugar – 3.2 g/L
Total Acidity – 5.6 g/L
p H – 3.44

Additional information

Best served with sole meunière, or soft shelled crab and fennel seafood pasta.