Lovely Creatures Chardonnay 2022

Where: Western Cape, South Africa
Grapes: Chardonnay
Body: Medium
Category: White Wine

Medium bodied.  Expressive aromas of cooking apples, vanilla, and baking spices.  The palate is bright and linear but ample, with citrus notes and a robust finish. Great tension. 

Sustainable  // hand harvested // woman winemaker // vegan

2022  //  750ml  // ABV 13%

Playing with Chardonnay is something Stephanie loves to do, even if it is not a part of the Thistle & Weed selection.  When she has had access to great fruit, she has always said yes and historically would bulk the wine off to a buyer. In this vintage of the Lovely Creatures collaboration, Steph sourced the Chardonnay from the Swartland on sandy clay soils with ferricrete (koffieklip) intermixed, which give that rich, purity of fruit that the Swartland is known for. The reason for switching the source of the fruit to the Swartland in 2022 (after sourcing from Stellenbosch in 2021) was that the yields in Stellenbosch were insanely low in 2022.

The Chardonnay was hand-harvested and de-stemmed with a gentle pressing to stainless steel tanks.  The juice fermented at a rather cool temperature, and after ten days the fermentation went dry. The wine remained in tank to mellow out.  After ten months of aging, the wine was bottled with a gentle fining, crossflow filtration, and dose of sulfur

Yes, Lovely Creatures is a nod to the eponymous album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, but it is also an homage to the often-overlooked critters that make up the ecosystem of a vineyard. From regal praying mantises to butterflies and bees, these animals help to bring a distinctive balance to their liana-speckled habitats.

Like these little creatures, these wines are unassuming and, yet, so lovely. They are made by Stephanie Wiid of Thistle & Weed, and though these are school night wines, they are still marked by her trademark intensity and elegant finish. The line is currently made up of two single-variety wines, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, which both come from single-vineyard sites in the Swartland and Stellenbosch, respectively, that are nearly two decades old. The clay-driven granitic soils provide texture and power to the wines, and native yeast fermentation offers an even deeper appreciation for the “lovely creatures” who take on the lofty task of turning ripe fruit juice into alcohol.