Jade is the latest range to join Natasha Williams’ Lelie van Saron label. This new project represents Natasha’s evolution as a winemaker, as she builds her identity in the South African wine industry. The name is meant as an homage to Natasha’s late cousin of the same name who was taken tragically during the pandemic. Jade, the element, conveys purity, harmony, and balance, and it has a luminous quality “like the heaven and stars – a connection between heaven and earth.” Jade differs from the other Lelie van Saron wines in that this range is a little more playful and experimental. This vintage is a whole new assemblage of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc while still maintaining that same ethos as the first bottling. This bubbly wine remains quite clean and technical; the lack of cloudiness is a nod to Natasha’s scientific leaning and her own personal preference. It is also bottled at three bars of pressure, which is above the South African labeling limit for a Pet Nat. Thus, méthode ancestrale.

The grapes were harvested from two vineyard blocks on the DeBos Farm. They were then transported to the cellar where they were hand sorted and whole bunch pressed. The juice settled overnight and was racked the following day. With the help of one subtle pump over per day, spontaneous fermentation commenced within two days at an ambient cellar temperature. Two weeks into the fermentation (at about 30 g/L residual sugar), the wine was hand bottled and capped to allow fermentation to complete inside the bottle. The wine spent another six months on the fine lees before disgorgement in September 2022 and a small sulfur addition.