Shattered Quartz & Volcanic material over Siltstone, Sandstone & Clay.
This area is approximately half one hectare in size. Quartz’ is from the original plantings in 1988.
The winemaking is the same for both wines however the Quartz Chardonnay sometimes spends a few months longer in barrel and there is a higher percentage of new wood used, being around 35%.
Easily the most overlooked and under appreciated Chardonnay region in South Africa is Stellenbosch. There are pockets in the region that can achieve the great heights of the best sites in Hemel-en-Aarde. The Polkadraai Hills see the brisk False Bay air cool down the sunshine rich Stellenbosch. This vintage also saw a little bit of fruit from a single site in Elgin make it into the final blend. This was due to another vintage of low yields in Polkadraai.
The fruit was handpicked into small picking bins between 22º-23º brix. The grapes were whole-bunch pressed primarily to used 225L French barrique (70%) and the remainder to stainless steel. The wine saw weekly battonage for two months and then left on lees for eight months prior to being racked to tank and bottled without fining or filtration and just a small sulfur addition