Seelug 2022
A fresh, elegantly oaked, limey and delicious Chardonnay - more to the serious side of things. Read the story or listen to the voice note below. The Story Seelug 2022 - the first vintage of something special. First things first though - some relevant terminologies: Off-shore wind - air movement off-the-shore, into-the-ocean. On-shore wind - air movement from-the-ocean, onto-the-shore. Chop/wit pertjies/white horses - Little waves produced by long distance air movement over large expanses of open ocean surfaces. Sampling - The picking of random grape berries from a vineyard in order to get a representable sample to determine ripeness. Seelug - Sea Air.
One hot day, during the harvest of ’22, I was sampling a little (as yet) un-named Chardonnay vineyard which a good friend had told me about. Situated on the lower slopes of the Helderberg, it overlooks False Bay. Glancing over towards the ocean that day, I could clearly see that the off-shore wind was blowing. This was good news to the Strand local I am, as the elusive off-shore wind grooms the waves, making them perfect for my local surf spot. I made a mental note to get a move-on with my sampling, no time to lose.
But 20 minutes later, as I once again raised my head from my berry-picking, grape-squashing exercise, I glanced over the bay. D’oh! (as Homer Simpson would say) - the wind had turned onshore. I could clearly see the tell-tale "wit perdjies" on the horizon heading towards shore. In a few minutes the perfectly groomed waves would be destroyed.
Deflated, I carried on with the task at hand.
Then, another 20 minutes later it hit me - SEELUG! It suddenly felt like someone was spraying my sun-baked face with a cool, misty oyster extract - a fragrance of fresh, salty, damp bamboo… So whilst the onshore might be wrecking waves, it simultaneously pushes the hot air inland and hugs every Chardonnay plant in that vineyard with a fragranced coolness which not many vines ever experience.
Seelug 2022 - A fresh, elegantly oaked, limey and delicious Chardonnay - more to the serious side of things.
Technical InformationCultivar: Chardonnay (100%)Vintage: 2022Region: StellenboschVineyard: Single vineyard trellised Chardonnay on the foothills of the Helderberg facing False Bay.
Winemaking: The grapes were picked at optimal ripeness and cooled overnight to 4 degrees celsius. The next morning the grapes were pressed as whole bunches. The juice underwent spontaneous fermentation in older French oak as well as 40% new barrels. Deep winter the wine received one sulfur addition. 10 months on the leese, blended and bottled.
Alcoholic Strenght: 13%/volAcidity: 5.44g/lPH: 3.51Reducing Sugar: 2.7g/lFree SO2: 25ppmTotal SO2: 75ppmVolatile Acidity: 0.54g/lClosure: Natural corkVegan: YesVoice recordingHow to order
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