In the words of Christo Le Riche, "We make it to drink it!"
With the same lightness of touch that makes Le Riche's reds frequent award-winners, this is small hands-off production at its best. Chablis freshness with lees contact and light wood influence obtained during 5 months in barrel. A fresh, lemony style with rich mineral, melon and citrus characters, hints of lemongrass and butterscotch. This wine has all the best of the Chardonnay character whilst remaining poised and elegant, clean and fresh. The wine sees no malolactic fermentation to maintain the freshness and bite achieved in the fruit. Superb value for money!
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. Le Riche are known as Cabernet Masters - selecting grapes from the best possible Stellenbosch terroirs to craft top quality Cabernets with superb cellaring potential. Their wines are elegant and classy with fine grained tannins and subtle oak integration. Although not aiming to be Bordeaux replicas, they do have much in common with the balance and poise sometimes found in top Margaux. Tim Atkin's Cape Classification currently ranks this estate as 2nd Growth level. Production is 8000×6 cases a year, with the Reserve range consisting of only 1000 cases. With most of their wines sold domestically, these wines are rare but worth sourcing.
Hand selected grapes were delicately pressed as whole bunches and then fermented in steel tanks and oak barrels. Malolactic fermentation was inhibited to ensure a firm acidity and retention of the fruit flavours. 50% was aged in 50% new French oak barrels. All the wine was aged on the lees for four months before bottling.
Wonderful with roasted belly pork, grilled chicken, creamy pasta dishes... even sushi.
92 Points - Tim Atkin
