For De Wetshof Estate in Robertson, that question has resulted in one of the most intriguing Chardonnay projects currently being undertaken in South Africa. The release of the 2025 vintage of The Shard marks only the second edition of a wine unlike any other made in this country – a Chardonnay fermented and matured entirely in French-made Wineglobe glass vessels.
It remains the only South African Chardonnay produced in this way. The use of glass as a fermentation and maturation vessel is a recent development among a handful of progressive producers in Europe and North America. While oak barrels, concrete eggs, amphorae and stainless steel have each become accepted tools in the modern cellar, the Wineglobe occupies a category of its own.
Its purpose is not to shape a wine through oxygen exchange or the influence of wood. Instead, it strives to do precisely the opposite: remove every external influence, leaving only the vineyard, the variety and the vintage to speak.
For Johann de Wet, whose family has become synonymous with Chardonnay in South Africa over the past four decades, the appeal of the Wineglobe lies in its complete neutrality.
"Wood imparts its own flavour, while concrete and amphorae are porous and even stainless steel has its own influence," he says. "Glass provides a totally closed environment where Chardonnay can express itself with complete clarity."
It is a philosophy entirely consistent with De Wetshof's long-standing belief that great Chardonnay begins in the vineyard. Long before the estate pioneered limestone-driven Chardonnay in Robertson, the De Wet family had developed an understanding that subtle differences in site could yield dramatically different expressions of the same grape.
The Shard comes from one such site. The fruit is sourced from a single 2.55-hectare vineyard planted to Burgundian Chardonnay clones on gravelly, limestone-rich soils. Nineteen-year-old vines, rooted in soils with naturally high pH, produce berries known for their citrus purity, mineral tension and remarkable precision.
Harvest takes place during the cool morning hours before the grapes are gently pressed and the juice settled overnight. From there it moves directly into 220-litre glass Wineglobes imported from France, where fermentation begins naturally. After fermentation, the wine remains on its lees inside the sealed vessels for eight months before bottling.
Nothing else intervenes. “The result is not a Chardonnay seeking richness or oak complexity,” says De Wet. “Instead, The Shard is built around restraint. The palate is linear, almost austere at first, before unfolding into layers of citrus, crushed stone and finely etched mineral freshness. Its finish is long, clean and quietly persistent rather than dramatic. Like all De Wetshof’s Chardonnays, it is a totally unique expression of our focus variety.”
The Shard adds another voice to the De Wetshof Chardonnay conversation, its significance extending beyond novelty. For one of South Africa's most established Chardonnay producers to embrace an entirely new vessel suggests that even after decades of experience, there remain fresh ways of understanding both vineyard and variety.
“But with The Shard, I am seeing the purest expression of site and variety, which brings with it a new way of seeing and understanding this variety, which has become one of South Africa’s most critically acclaimed categories,” says De Wet.
As South African Chardonnay continues to earn international acclaim, wines such as The Shard demonstrate that innovation need not chase fashion. Sometimes it simply seeks greater understanding.
And occasionally, the clearest window into a vineyard is made of glass.