Why it matters
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 and vineyards
Where the wines begin
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.
In the cellar
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 to know
The range in view
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.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
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.