David Finlayson Chardonnay 2024
As with previous vintages, the wine shows an elegant minerality with lime-citrus, sourdough and cinnamon flavours. The tight minerality keeps a wonderful acid grip on the palate showing good aging potential. A floral note of wild, white flowers such as frangipani and almond blossom is obvious on the front of the nose and follows through the palate.
“This creamy white shows pastry, nutmeg, apricots and salted almonds on the nose. It’s full-bodied with a flinty, stony freshness at the end. Sustainable. Drink now. Screw cap.”
91 points – James Suckling
“Staggered picks of 6 blocks in the 2024 ensure rich flavour spectrum: white pear, brioche, nougat, while retaining vibrant acidity & poise. Part natural ferment in mostly older barrels, plus partial malo add to both freshness & creaminess. As delicious & inviting as previous.”
91 Points – Platter’s South African Wine Guide
“The 2024 Chardonnay is blended with 5% Chenin Blanc and aged for eight months in up to 15% new oak barrels. One of Finlayson’s strongest cuvées, this has a delightful bouquet with lemon verbena, orange pith and light nectarine scents. Very well defined. The palate is well balanced with fine delineation, a pleasing mineralité here with a composed, tropical-tinged finish. Very fine.”
91 Points – Vinous
“This Chardonnay opens with a rich mix of lemon and ginger. Good acidity balances the mid-palate, elevating subtle apricot and citrus fruit flavors that linger through a crisp finish.”
90 Points – Wine Enthusiast
This is the seventeenth vintage of this Chardonnay. The wine is made from five different vineyards, in different parts of Stellenbosch – each with very different attributes. They are all harvested at their own optimal time and then barrel fermented separately, with a partial pure yeast strain inoculation and some natural yeasts. Roughly 30% of the ferments were then allowed to go through malolactic fermentation. The wine was stirred twice during “elevage” in barrel to create a creamy, harmonious blend between wood and grape flavors. Following the assemblage, the wine was fined with bentonite and Vegecol, making this wine vegan-friendly. It was crossflow filtered and bottled under a screwcap to ensure quality. The blending of different components is deliberately done to try and maintain a “house style”, which is intended to lean a little toward Meursault, a favorite of David’s.
David Finlayson needs no introduction when it comes to Chardonnay. How can we forget his incredible success with this grape when he was at Glen Carlou. This is without question David’s favorite white grape to work with. Vintage conditions in 2024 were really good – albeit a touch warm through the ripening period. This added a rounder mouthfeel and more depth than in 2022. This is David’s 17th vintage of Chardonnay here at his own property and marks more than 30 years that he’s been working with this grape. The wine is made from 4 different vineyards including coastal, mountain and valley floor sites. The nod to Burgundy, when it comes to David’s house style, is not intentional, but it is preferred. There are some distinct similarities to the flavors found in cooler Burgundian and Chablis sites – perhaps most noticeably, Meursault. The focus here is to simply make elegant wines that work with food.
