Le Riche Chardonnay 75cl

Le Riche is a family run estate founded by Etienne Le Riche in 1996. Situated close to the historic town of Stellenbosch, the winery is perched on the slopes of the Heldeberg Mountain and surrounded by the majestic Hottentots Holland Mountain range.

If youre based in Stellenbosch and going to specialise in something, Cabernet is a great choice! Le Riche are known as ‘Cabernet Masters’ and rightly so. They select grapes from the best possible Stellenbosch terroirs to craft top quality Cabernets with superb cellaring potential. The estate was founded by Etienne Le Riche in 1996 and remains a family affair.

These wines are elegant and classy with fine grained tannins and subtle oak integration, and while not aiming to be Bordeaux replicas, they do have much in common with the balance and poise sometimes found in top Margaux. With most of their wines sold domestically, it’s a rare treat to find these wines on UK soils. Production is 8000×6 cases a year, with the Reserve range consisting of only 1000 cases. These wines are rare but worth sourcing.

With the same elegance and lightness of touch that runs through the Le Riche range, this is small hands-off production at its best.

Hand selected grapes were delicately pressed as whole bunches and fermented with wild yeasts. A mixture of ceramic pots and oak barrels were used throughout the ferment and malolactic fermentation. After fermentation, the wine was allowed to age on its gross lees for 11 months before bottling. This aging occurred in a mixture of new (25%) and old French oak barrels, as well as ceramic clay pots.