2017 Hamilton Russell Vineyards chardonnay: delicate and impossibly elegant

2017 Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Chardonnay, Hemel-en-Aarde, South Africa £23.95, Hennings Wine, 01798-872485, HenningsWine.co.uk; £24.50, Hailsham Cellars, 01323-441941, HailshamCellars.com

The flagship is a triumph

But the star is the flagship chardonnay and, at only 13.16% alcohol, it is a triumph. Grown in one of the most southerly wine estates in South Africa, just behind the old fishing village of Hermanus, southeast of Cape Town, the vineyards, which overlook the ocean, are blessed with a favourable maritime climate. Ninety per cent of this wine has been barrel fermented and aged for nine months in French oak barriques of varying ages and a variety of toast levels. The remaining 10% is aged in large foudre, stainless steel and ceramic eggs.

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This complex cocktail of maturation vessels and accompanying flavour influences layers complexity into this mono-varietal wine. The results are delicate and impossibly elegant. It is pure, pale, innocent and yet firmly structured on the palate and incredibly long. It has every element of chardonnay that I admire and it does it with Zen-like calm. I think that you will like this wine very much indeed.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (MatthewJukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

He has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.