Paul Clüver Family Wines' first Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the 2025 vintage have just made an appearance under this Elgin winery’s Village label, Village being one of three wines in Paul Clüver Family Wines’ Pinot Noir and Chardonnay offering.
The Village range is made from the estate’s younger vineyards and crafted to an accessible, fruit-driven style that gives consumers access to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines made for everyday drinking, yet expressing the elegance and nuance of these two regal Burgundian grape cultivars.
The Paul Clüver Village Chardonnay and Paul Clüver Village Pinot Noir, both from the 2025 vintage, display the refined style and discernible fruit presence that characterises wines from that year.
A cool, temperate growing season in Elgin made for a superb 2025 harvest, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir showing outstanding balance and purity. Cellarmaster Andries Burger attributes the quality of the fruit to ideal seasonal conditions, including a cold, wet winter with over 800mm of rainfall that supported vine health and the regenerative cover crops. Slow, even ripening through spring and a notably cool January preserved firm natural acidity, a hallmark of the vintage.
“The fruit quality yielded in 2025 was just superb,” says Burger, “and evidence of this exceptional vintage is to be seen in the Paul Clüver Family Wines Village Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, the first of our wines to be released from that year. Grapes were healthy, acid-to-sugar ratios were precise, and the Village Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from 2025 both show terrific varietal character.
“The quality of the wines from the vintage is largely the result of the moderate daytime temperatures experienced in the growing season and the fresh, cool nights. Both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir put their best foot forward under these conditions.”
The Village Chardonnay undergoes spontaneous fermentation and 10 months aging in a combination of vessels – stainless steel tanks, 2500-liter foudre, concrete eggs, and older French oak barrels, all on natural yeasts and lees for eight months.
After fermentation and daily punch-downs, the Village Pinot Noir is aged for 12 months in foudre and older barrels.
Paul Clüver Village Chardonnay 2025 shows bright citrus flavours, notes of white flower, and some juicy green pear. The wine is fresh and exuberant yet shows the layered complexity inherent in the Chardonnay grape.
With regards to Paul Clüver Village Pinot Noir 2025, delicious cherry and plum flavours lead to a slight shade of autumnal forest floor and mushroom, two elements that are – among others – responsible for the alluring distinction of Pinot Noir.