South Africa · Elgin

Richard Kershaw Wines

An Elgin virtual winery matching grape clones to selected sites, then turning Chardonnay, Syrah and Pinot Noir into cool-climate wines with clear structural differences.

The producer

Richard Kershaw founded this Elgin label in January 2012, a year after becoming a Master of Wine. Without owned vineyards or a permanent cellar, he buys fruit from selected growers and rents cellar space; clone, parcel and batch decisions therefore shape each wine from the start. Chardonnay and Syrah began the range, with Pinot Noir added in 2015.

The Clonal Selection wines bring selected Elgin parcels into dry Chardonnay with citrus fruit, acidity, oak and lees-derived texture, and Syrah with body, savoury spice and tannin. The G.P.S. wines narrow the focus further. G.P.S. Lower Duivenhoks River Chardonnay comes from one block, combining fruit, acidity, oak and a textured palate in a more site-specific bottle.

Known for

Clonal-selection, site-specific cool-climate wines from selected South African parcels.

Notable facts

The story

From examination result to first vintage plan

On 5 September 2011, Richard Kershaw passed the Master of Wine examination. Four months later, in January 2012, he established Richard Kershaw Wines in Elgin. Chardonnay and Syrah were the first grapes in the new range, chosen for wines built around selected sites, clone matching and cool-climate fruit. Kershaw did not buy vineyards or build a cellar for the project: he bought grapes from growers and rented cellar space. Fruit from eleven incoming parcels could then be divided into 21 separately monitored batches during production. Pinot Noir joined the range in 2015.

From examination result to first vintage plan

On 5 September 2011, Richard Kershaw passed the Master of Wine examination. Four months later, in January 2012, he established Richard Kershaw Wines in Elgin. Chardonnay and Syrah were the first grapes in the new range, chosen for wines built around selected sites, clone matching and cool-climate fruit. Kershaw did not buy vineyards or build a cellar for the project: he bought grapes from growers and rented cellar space. Fruit from eleven incoming parcels could then be divided into 21 separately monitored batches during production. Pinot Noir joined the range in 2015.

From the atlas

Richard Kershaw Wines

At A Glance

The Producer

Richard Kershaw Wines is based in Elgin, in South Africa’s Western Cape, and its central question is unusually direct: which clone belongs in which site? Richard Kershaw established the label after becoming a Master of Wine in 2011, then set out to make cool-climate wines whose differences begin in the vineyard parcel rather than being blended away in the cellar. Chardonnay, Syrah and later Pinot Noir give that approach three grapes with different responses to slow ripening, acidity and texture.

Because Kershaw owns neither vineyards nor a cellar, the producer is built around selection. Grapes are purchased from vineyards judged suitable for a particular clone and wine, then made in rented cellar space. The result is a label where the source block, the grape material and the handling of each batch matter as much as the name on the bottle.

Place

Elgin is the base for the Clonal Selection wines, and its cool-climate conditions are central to their shape. For Chardonnay, cooler ripening supports acidity alongside fruit and texture; for Syrah, it allows ripeness without losing the structure that carries savoury and spice notes through the finish. Pinot Noir joined the range in 2015 because it offers another route through the same conditions: perfume, fruit and lighter-bodied structure rather than the broader frame of Syrah.

The labels also distinguish scale. A Clonal Selection Elgin wine draws on selected parcels within the wider Elgin area, while the G.P.S. wines narrow the focus further. G.P.S. Lower Duivenhoks River Chardonnay comes from one block, turning a geographic detail on the label into a more specific account of where the grapes were grown.

Soil And Site

The available vineyard information is strongest on parcels, blocks and clone matching rather than on a fixed soil formula. That matters here: the producer does not treat Elgin as one uniform source. Individual grape parcels are selected and kept visible through the making of the wines, so a block can contribute its own fruit, acidity and texture before final blending decisions are made.

The Lower Duivenhoks River Chardonnay makes the contrast especially clear. Its single-block origin is narrower than the regional Elgin Chardonnay, so the bottle is organised around one growing site rather than a selection from several parcels.

Story

Kershaw was born and raised in the UK, trained first as a chef, then moved into wine. Before settling in South Africa in 1999, he worked in California, Chile, Bordeaux, Hungary and Germany. His South African career included Mulderbosch Vineyards, Nelson Estate and Kanu, followed by a return to Mulderbosch in 2009. Those routes led to a label where vineyard material is treated as something to compare closely, not simply as fruit to assemble.

The decisive step came after the Master of Wine qualification in 2011. In January 2012, Kershaw founded his own business in Elgin with Chardonnay and Syrah as the first grapes. The label’s site-specific direction has a practical consequence: a wine may start as a parcel and clone decision, then retain that distinction through separate fermentation and maturation rather than being pushed immediately toward a uniform house style.

Vineyards And Cellar

The virtual-winery model makes sourcing a working part of the winemaking. Kershaw purchases grapes from selected vineyards, rents cellar space and can divide eleven incoming grape parcels into 21 separately monitored batches. That separation lets the cellar respond to fruit as it arrives: differences in clone or parcel can remain distinct while the wine is assessed through fermentation and ageing.

Natural fermentation and gravity-fed cellar practice are part of the documented approach. These choices limit forceful handling of the fruit, while maturation remains an active tool in the finished wines. In Chardonnay, oak and lees can add texture around acidity; in Syrah, maturation contributes to the wine’s savoury, spicy frame and tannin. The aim is not a single recipe across the range, but a set of decisions matched to each parcel and grape.

Wines

The Clonal Selection Elgin range is the wider regional tier. Chardonnay brings selected Elgin parcels together into a dry white shaped by acidity, fruit, oak and lees-derived texture. Syrah uses the same attention to source in a red with more body, tannin and savoury spice, its maturation giving the fruit a firmer structural frame. Pinot Noir extends the range with a cooler-climate red grape whose appeal lies in floral or fruit perfume, lighter weight and a more delicate tannin profile.

The G.P.S. wines move to a smaller frame of reference. G.P.S. Lower Duivenhoks River Chardonnay is a single-block wine, with documented clone, oak treatment, fruit character, texture and acidity. It is not simply a more concentrated version of the Elgin Chardonnay; it is a bottle designed to keep one site’s Chardonnay material in view.

In The Glass

Across the whites, look first for fruit and citrus, then for the way acidity runs through the palate. The Clonal Selection Elgin Chardonnay has a broad enough parcel base to combine fruit with a textured middle, while oak and lees help give the dry wine weight without replacing its fresh line. The finish is therefore less about sweetness than about acidity, fruit and the lingering feel of the palate.

The Lower Duivenhoks River Chardonnay brings a tighter site focus: fruit, oak, texture and acidity are all documented features of the wine. Syrah takes the range into darker, more savoury territory, where spice, tannin and body matter more than Chardonnay’s citrus-led shape. These are wines whose structure is as important as aroma: acid for the whites, tannin and weight for the red.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with G.P.S. Lower Duivenhoks River Chardonnay. It is a single-block Chardonnay, so the bottle brings the producer’s method into one glass: selected grape material, a defined site and cellar treatment that includes oak. Expect dry Chardonnay with fruit, acidity and a textured palate, the oak adding shape rather than turning the wine into a sweet, woody style. It comes first because the label states one block clearly, while the wine’s acidity and texture show how Kershaw turns that source into a finished white.

Anecdote

On 5 September 2011, Richard Kershaw passed the Master of Wine examination. The following January, he established Richard Kershaw Wines in Elgin. The new label began with Chardonnay and Syrah and was built around clonal selection, selected sites and cool-climate fruit. Rather than buy vineyards or construct a winery, Kershaw purchased grapes from growers and rented cellar space. That arrangement allowed individual parcels to be handled separately: eleven incoming grape parcels can become 21 monitored wine batches before the final wines are assembled. Pinot Noir joined the range in 2015.

Final Word

Richard Kershaw Wines is worth seeking out when a label that names Elgin, a clone or a narrower site is more useful than a grand estate story. Chardonnay shows the clearest path: selected fruit, dry texture, acidity and oak working around a defined source.

Sources

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