£25.00
£33.33 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
Out of Stock
Meerlust brings its trademark elegance to Chardonnay, and the result is a white wine of real precision and poise. Expect apricot, white peach and lemon zest lifted by toasted almond, all held together by cool, mineral acidity. A serious Stellenbosch white for anyone who prefers restraint over richness.
Not for sale to persons under 18. Adult signature required on delivery.
We keep coming back to this one when customers ask for a Chardonnay that shows what Stellenbosch can really do. Meerlust have resisted the temptation to over-oak or overblow it, and the result is a genuinely food-friendly white with the structure to age gracefully over the next few years. It's a wine for people who love white Burgundy but want to try something new, and it makes a properly thoughtful gift for anyone who thinks Cape whites means Chenin. Stocks come and go quickly when we list it, so grab a bottle while it's here.
Pale gold with a green-tinged glint, the nose leads with apricot and white peach, then softens into pear, lemon zest and a suggestion of toasted almond from time in oak. The palate is linear and precise, stone fruit carried on a fine seam of citrus acidity, with just enough weight from barrel fermentation to give it presence. A mineral undertow keeps everything focused, and the finish lingers on clean lemon and wet stone rather than sweetness.
Meerlust made its name on Bordeaux blends, but pour a glass of their Chardonnay and you'll understand why this estate can turn its hand to almost anything. This is Stellenbosch Chardonnay in its most refined register: pale gold in the glass, gently perfumed, and built around focus rather than flash. On the nose you get apricot, ripe pear and white peach, with lemon zest lifting the fruit and a whisper of toasted almond in the background. The palate is linear and precise, with generous stone fruit balanced by a sleek, salty acidity that keeps everything humming. The finish is long, citrus-fresh and mineral, the sort of ending that makes you reach for the glass again. The fruit comes from two of Meerlust's distinct terroirs: a warm granite hilltop that gives the wine its shape and depth, and a cooler, rocky greywacke slope that lends the citrus edge and detail. Fermentation happens in French oak barrels, roughly a third new, the rest older, so oak supports rather than shouts. It's Chardonnay made by winemakers who understand that great whites are built on tension, not weight. Open a bottle with grilled sea bass, roast chicken with lemon and thyme, or a proper Sunday roast pork with crackling. It's equally at home as a dinner-party white or a gift for the friend who thinks South Africa only does big reds. Delivered to your door anywhere in the UK, ready for the table.
Built for the table rather than the aperitif hour. It shines with grilled fish (sea bass, hake, a whole trout off the barbecue) and holds up beautifully to roast chicken with lemon and thyme. The gentle oak means it can even handle pink pork chops or a creamy mushroom risotto. Try it with a mature Cheddar to see the mineral finish light up.
No need to decant, but pouring into a jug for ten minutes wakes it up nicely, particularly if serving straight from a cold fridge. The oak influence and mineral depth reveal themselves with a little air.
Stellenbosch's climate does much of the work here. Warm days ripen the Chardonnay slowly on Meerlust's granite hilltops, while cool nights and the afternoon sea breeze off False Bay pull temperatures down and lock in acidity. The estate's proximity to the ocean tempers the summer heat, giving the fruit time to build stone-fruit generosity without losing tension. What ends up in the glass is that Cape balancing act: ripe peach and apricot on one hand, cool citrus and mineral drive on the other.
Drinking beautifully now, but this has the acidity and structure to reward five or six years in a good cellar. Expect the primary stone fruit to soften into honey and toasted nut notes, with the mineral core becoming more pronounced. No rush, but no need to wait either.
Fruit comes from two of Meerlust's four distinct sites. Kompagniesdrift is a warm, north-facing hilltop of weathered granite, its coarse gravelly soils giving the wine structure and bold stone-fruit expression. Quarry is the cooler counterpoint: a rocky, windswept foot slope of greywacke and shale where shallow-rooted vines produce citrus-driven wines with precision and length.
The juice is settled overnight after pressing, then racked to barrel with a touch of fine solids to ferment. That barrel choice matters: 33% new oak, 30% second-fill and 37% third-fill 300-litre barrels, a mix designed to season the wine without smothering it. Fermentation runs on either cultured or wild yeast, depending on the parcel. After a racking to lose the heavy lees, the wine goes back to barrel for maturation until the texture and complexity are where the winemaker wants them, followed by a light fining before bottling.
Meerlust
Meerlust, Dutch for 'pleasure of the sea', has been making wine since 1693, and the Myburgh family have held the estate since 1756. It was Nico Myburgh's visit to Bordeaux in 1967 that changed everything. He recognised the climatic kinship between the Eerste River Valley and the great estates of the Left Bank, and set about planting Cabernet Franc, a first for Stellenbosch. The Rubicon, first released in 1984, became South Africa's pioneering Bordeaux-style blend and remains the estate's flagship, accounting for roughly half of total production. Now in the hands of eighth-generation owner Hannes Myburgh, with winemaker Wim Truter at the helm since 2020, Meerlust continues to balance heritage with quiet evolution. The estate is a declared national monument, a fitting status for a property that helped shape the modern Cape wine landscape.
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