2018 Seven Flags Chardonnay
Estimated value
Buying options
Tasting notes
Paul Cluver’s Seven Flags Chardonnay is a selection of fruit from the estate’s oldest vines – and the 2018 is stunning. Instantly alluring, intense aromas of toast, spice, vanilla, juicy peach, cantaloupe melon and citrus pith leap from the glass. Despite the almost exotic nose, the palate is amazingly poised. It’s ripe and lush, with remarkable intensity. The 30% new oak and bâtonnage give it a silken, voluptuous texture – but that generosity is kept in check by a line of pithy acidity that holds everything in place. Waves of perfectly ripe stone fruit, toast and citrus build to a moreish, saline finish that leaves you reaching for another glass.
Critic scores
Average Score
Tim Atkin MW
Decanter
More reviews and scores
Full bottle 1,362 g. Grapes selected from the oldest Chardonnay vineyards on the estate. Whole-bunch pressed and settled without additions. 100% non-inoculated fermentation in a selection of French oak barrels (30% new, 70% second and third fill). Lees-stirring to a lesser degree than previous years to retain freshness. The wine remained on the lees for a total of nine months without any sulphite addition. A small proportion of the total blend underwent malolactic fermentation. After tasting and blending trials, the wine was assembled from the best barrels, stabilised and prepared for bottling. Natural cork. TA 6.4 g/l, pH 3.29, RS 1.8 g/l. 940 cases of six bottles made. Pale lemon-gold. Deeper, nuttier and flintier than their Village Chardonnay tasted immediately before, with subtler melon or green mango fruit. Richer on the palate too, with a mouth-filling style that carries a lemon-sherbet tanginess on the mid palate, giving way to a dry, long, pithy finish. A good showing from Seven Flags. (TJ)
The 2018 Chardonnay Seven Flags comes from the oldest vines and was matured in 30% new oak. It has more complexity than the Estate Chardonnay, wonderful flinty scents infusing the citrus fruit, backed by aromas of apple blossom and hazelnut. The palate is well balanced with a fine bead of acidity, good weight in the mouth and a finish that is powerful and quite dense. I would have liked a little more tension, but this is still one of the Cape’s best Chardonnays.
The latest in an impressive run of outstanding Chardonnays from this top Elgin estate – no mean feat in a vintage where some producers struggled with fructose levels - this is bigger and bolder than the 2017 release. More Meursault than Puligny-Montrachet perhaps, with some cream and cashew notes on the palate underpinned by racy acidity.