2022 Creation Estate Chardonnay Whale Pod

With a bit of luck you can spot whales from the vineyard, which is why the wines bear the name Whale Pod. The wine is made by the winemakers of Creation, a well-known player from the Walker Bay Region. The grapes are picked at the end of February and fermented in oak barrels at a temperature of 20 degrees. Bâtonnage - the shuffling of the yeast cells around - takes place every two weeks. This adds to the complexity and makes the wine more rounded in taste. After fermentation, the wine matures for 10 months in oak barrels, 15% of which is new. Creation Estate's Chardonnay Whale Pod is a fruit-driven Chardonnay from the heart of the Walker Bay Region in South Africa. In the glass, this fresh chardonnay has a lemon-yellow color with fruit-driven notes of quince, mango, peach and a hint of vanilla due to the light wood aging. In the taste, the ripe fruit and the wood aging are reflected. The wine has a lively acidity, which provides good balance and a lingering aftertaste.

Harvest year 2017 - 8 (press wine)
Harvest year 2017 - 8.5 (DGH)

About Creation Estate

When Jean-Claude (JC) and Carolyn Martin took on the challenge of starting a winery in a remote corner of the Walker Bay Wine Region in 2002, it was quite exciting. Vines had never been planted here before, but JC and Carolyn - both descendants of well-known wine families - were determined and convinced of the potential of the area. Together they founded Creation Estate in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. Five years later, in 2007, the first harvest took place and they equipped the cellar with the best equipment from Germany, France and Switzerland. Since then they have been hard at work. Not only with their quality wines, the tasting room has also made a name for itself.

Today, Creation Estate has 50 hectares of vineyards in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. JC and Carolyn's winemaking philosophy is based on “enhancing the beauty of nature”. It is primarily about the quality of the grapes, not about the tricks that can be performed in the cellar. “Wine making is a delicate art that must be restrained in order to capture the nuances of its provenance,” said JC Martin. The terroir is important at Creation Estate. Not surprising, because the combination of higher vineyards and the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean creates a unique microclimate in Walker Bay. In addition, JC Martin works with wild yeast cells instead of commercially developed yeast cells, read more about this on our news page.

In 2019, the municipality of Overstrand Hermanus in South Africa was awarded the status 'Creative City status for Gastronomy' by UNESCO! This is one of only 10 cities worldwide and the first on the African continent to receive this award. For the Creation winery, and other many individuals and boutique producers in the area, this is a tribute to their contribution to achieving sustainable development goals.

About Heaven-and-Earth Valley

Creation Estate is located in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, a sub-area within the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley. It is about twenty kilometers from Hermanus, the coastal town on Walker Bay that is also known as the 'whale capital' of South Africa. The Atlantic Ocean not only ensures that the whales enjoy floating around here, it also provides an ideal climate for viticulture. It is warm, but it rarely exceeds thirty degrees during the growing season. This is due to the fresh sea breeze and the fact that Creation Estate's vineyards are slightly higher than most vineyards in the area. The grapes get the chance to ripen optimally, but retain their fresh acidity thanks to the cool nights. The soil also plays an important role in this. The vineyards have a clay-derived slate soil called Bokkeveld. It prevents water stress and makes the vines less vigorous, which in turn contributes to the slow ripening of the grapes (due to the slow release of groundwater).

In short, Creation Estate has a unique terroir in the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge. They know how to translate this into full, but at the same time elegant wines with ripe fruit aromas, fresh acids and a beautiful minerality.