This wine shows a beautiful balance between wood flavours and the flavours of dried orange peel and peanuts. It is round and silky-soft on the palate, with a lingering fresh sensation in the aftertaste.
Essentially a fine-food wine, with caviar, snails, carpaccio, paté, crayfish (Cape rock lobster), prawns, langoustine, mussels, perlemoen (abalone) and creamy cheese.
in the vineyard : Macro climate: more moderate than other Cape wine producing areas
Meso climate:: average rainfall: 1000mm p.a
Vineyards cooled by early morning mists as well as cooling breezes during summer
Altitude: 200m
Vineyard blocks: 6 (4.9 ha), 22 (1.1 ha), 30(1.5 ha). 31(2.3 ha) and 32(2.3 ha)
Soil types: (on 6) Clovelly, (on 22) Tukulu and (on 30, 31, 32) Oakleaf
Rootstock: Richter 99
Clone type: (on 6) CY3, (on 22,30 and 31) CY5 and (on 32 (CY3, CY5, CY55, CY95, CY130, CY277
Vines planted: 6 (1997), 22 (1992) 30 (1987), 31 (1990) and 32 (1991)
Direction planted: north-south
Density: 4 630 vines per ha
Space between rows: 2.7m
Space between vines: 0.8m
All vines trellised: Perold
Height of trellis poles: 2.4m (normally 2.1m)
Irrigation: drip
Canopy Management: more leaves absorb sunshine for the formation and the grapes are protected from the sun
about the harvest: It was a wet, cool summer, with rain received until 15 January. Relatively high temperatures followed until the end of summer. Almost all the grapes ripened simultaneously. Harvesting started on 5 February 2002, at 23º Balling.
Yield: 10 t per ha.
in the cellar : Fermentation: 50% of the juice was fermented naturally and 50% was inoculated with selected yeast. Prior to fermentation, juice was chilled to ±10 - 11ºC. It was then fermented in barrels without further temperature control.
Maturation: After fermentation the lees was stirrred regularly and subjected to malolactic fermentation in 225-litre French oak barrels. Thereafter it was left on the lees for 10-11 months. Before bottling, 10% tank-fermented Chardonnay was blended in, to lend extra freshness to the wine. Wine was bottled in the La Motte cellar on 16 June 2003. After a further 2 months bottle-ageing, 2100 cartons (12x750ml) were released as 2002 La Motte Chardonnay.