There is a special kind of alchemy that happens when time, place and family come together in a single vineyard. At Creation, that story now has a new chapter with Glenn’s Chardonnay 2023 from Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, recently recognised among Decanter’s top 12 South African wines of 2025 with an outstanding 96-point rating from regional editor Julie Sheppard.
Glenn’s Chardonnay is a deeply personal wine, created by Jean-Claude (JC) Martin with son Glenn from a single plot in a quartz- and clay-rich vineyard high on the Ridge. Fermented using indigenous yeasts and matured in a careful mix of new and seasoned French oak, it captures the precision and restraint of fine Burgundy while remaining unmistakably rooted in the cool, ocean-breathing slopes of Hemel-en-Aarde.
The production is tiny – just 1,500 bottles – but the ambitions are anything but small. In her South African Wine Highlights of 2025, Sheppard praises the wine’s drive, texture and sense of place, noting how its savoury structure, shimmering minerality and nuanced fruit mark it out as one of the Cape’s most compelling Chardonnays, with a drinking window stretching to 2033.
Her full tasting note reads as follows: ‘There’s a keen Burgundian sensibility to JC Martin’s wines from cool Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, as demonstrated by this classy cuvée, made with his son Glenn. A limited release from a single plot in a quartz-clay vineyard, fermented with wild yeast and aged in new (30%) and used French oak, it’s detailed and so beautifully textured. Linear and driving, but also rounded and persistent. Structured and savoury, with hints of pear and orange blossom and a seam of flinty minerality.’
For us, this recognition is not only a proud moment for Glenn and JC; it is a milestone in a much longer journey. Years of focusing on virus-free vineyards, regenerative viticulture and meticulous site selection on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge are now being reflected in the glass, affirming our belief that healthy soils and biodiversity are the foundation of truly ageworthy wines.
As guests, friends and ambassadors of Creation, you are part of this story too. Many of you have walked these vineyards, felt the salt-tinged breeze from Walker Bay, and tasted our Chardonnays alongside seasonal dishes inspired by the Cape Floral Kingdom. Glenn’s Chardonnay 2023 is a toast to that shared journey – a limited, cellar-worthy expression of family and the quiet confidence of a place (our Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge) coming into its own.