Kershaw Wines

Kershaw Wines is a high-end, boutique producer based in the Elgin Valley, South Africa’s coolest wine region. Founded in 2012 by Richard Kershaw, the winery is notable for being led by the only winemaking Master of Wine (MW) in South Africa.
Winemaking Style and Philosophy
The winery focuses on “site-specific, clonal-selected” wines, meaning each bottle is crafted to reflect a specific vineyard plot and specific grape clones (primarily high-quality French clones).
  • Minimal Intervention: Kershaw uses natural fermentation, avoids adding enzymes or acids, and employs gravity-fed systems instead of pumps to preserve the wine’s character.
  • Cool Climate Advantage: Elgin’s high altitude, proximity to the ocean, and unique cloud cover create a climate similar to Southern Burgundy or the Northern Rhône, leading to elegant, lower-alcohol wines with distinct mineral notes.
Core Wine Ranges
  • Clonal Selection: The flagship range, focusing on ChardonnaySyrah, and Pinot Noir.
  • Deconstructed: A “scientific” exploration where single-clone wines from specific soil types (like shale or decomposed granite) are bottled separately to show microscopic terroir differences.
  • GPS Series: Wines made from grapes sourced outside of Elgin, exploring other unique South African terroirs.
  • The Cutler: A more accessible range produced for Naked Wines through “Angel” crowdfunding.

The climate of the Elgin region is similar to that of southern Burgundy and northern Rhône – the best conditions for choosing Chardonnay and Syrah. In addition, both grape varieties are considered “noble” because they have the undeniable ability to produce world-class wines in the right hands and under certain conditions, and also have an extremely positive storage and development potential over the years.

Kershaw Wines

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Clonally selected, site-specific, cool climate wine paradigms from apposite noble grapes i.e. ones with the ability to produce world-class examples. Picked exclusively from parcels of grapes within Elgin.

SA’s coolest wine district, Elgin Valley, reflected these principles enabling the germane grapes, Chardonnay, Syrah and more recently Pinot Noir, to show a sense of place.