Beautiful Apple Orchard Turned Beautiful Chardonnay

Ian and Anette Corder purchased a beautiful farm apple in the Elgin Valley plateau region in 2003 with plans of producing Sauvignon Blanc.  Since then, they have planted Chardonnay and let’s thank them!  Their fruit is so good the largest South African wine producer purchases nearly all of it to use in their flagship single vineyard wine.

This husband and wife team grows and produces their own wines from a small 14ha plot of land.  Ian comes from a marketing background, previously one of the founding members of a Cape Town design company.  His love for wine started in his youth working with Stellenbosch Farmers Winery.  Anette is the farm manager, previously a director of her own travel company.  It is said she makes the best coffee and croissants in all of Elgin.  Anette’s business associates are know to make 8am appointments.  These two grower-producers enlisted the help of Kevin Watt, one of the top leaders in South African viticulture.

Elgin Ward is within the Overberg District which is not part of a Region.  This is certainly apple orchard county which growing grapes is relatively new in relation to South Africa’s history.  The slightly inland coastal area is just south of Stellenbosch and experiences the same morning cooling mist from the Atlantic.  Elgin benefits from higher altitudes than it’s northern neighbor situated at 300 meters in elevation.  Corder’s grapes come from even cooler southeastern slopes.  Cooler, higher altitudes provides the grapes with a longer growing season producing uniquely intense Sauvignon Blanc and Chablis meets Sonoma styled Chardonnay.

The Wine:
Clean, light to medium intensity, lemon in color.  Moderate in aroma intensity with strong minerality.  Medium oak influence of sweet spices and cedar.  Strong aromas of green and red apples (old apple orchard remember?) underlaid with white apricot and honeysuckle.  Slight notes of lees and autolytic character.  Medium-full mouth-coating body with lots of acidity to balance.  Cool climate Chardonnay flavours throughout – pear, green and red apples, florals, honeysuckle, white apricot, mineral notes of chalk, all rounded out by slight oak influence. Delicate but expressive at the same time.