2019 Genevieve Cap Classique Blanc de Blancs Brut, Simonsberg-Paarl, South Africa

100% Woman-Owned. 100% Chardonnay

The fruit comes from a mixture of 27-year-old sourced and estate-grown vines. Melissa produces, ages, riddles, and disgorges at a facility in Paarl, with hopes to one day carry this out at her beautiful little farm in Bot River.

Aged on the lees for nearly 48 months, this wine tastes like a Champagne from its most prized sub-region, Côte de Blancs. One can easily sense the influence of where Melissa learned how to make bubbles. The 2019 is somehow both steely and lean, yet mouth-coating and rich. There are notes of quince, yellow kiwi, apple tart, butter cookies, orange peel, and fennel, with floral undertones. The finish is long and racy with a mouth-coating lees-y texture that even the best Champagnes fight to achieve. This wine is quite dry – only 3.7 g/l RS - which allows Chardonnay’s zippy acidity to shine. This is a seriously great bottle of Méthode Cap Classique that is easily among the best bubbly that South Africa has to offer.