Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 11 November 2015 | Page 8

The Chardonnay and Champers Clique

Summer changes our wine choices; generally fullbodied reds tend to be substituted with delicate and
crisp whites served chilled. Tantalise the palate with
fresh fruits aromas and their versatility allows easy
pairing with lighter foods. As wines, Chardonnay's are
one of the newer varieties in South Africa, popularised
in the late 1980s and although one of the most widely
drunk globally and a significant contributor to our
exports list, they’ve only gained ground with domestic
drinkers over the last two decades.
Yet this is slowly changing thanks to the likes of Groot
Constantia whose 2013 Chardonnay was judged the
best Chardonnay in the world at the 22nd annual
Chardonnay du Monde competition, held earlier
this year in Burgundy, France. The international wine
competition has been judging Chardonnays for the
last 20 years and our country’s oldest wine-producing
estate beat off competition from more than 800
other entrants from across the globe to be one of only

two Chardonnays to receive a gold medal and feature
in the top 56, the other being Fleur de Cap Unfiltered
Chardonnay (2014) from Cape Legends with 13 other
South African Chardonnays winning a silver medal.
Other winemakers are creating amazing Chardonnays
too like the Rhinofields Chardonnay at Durbanville
Hills, where winemakers have retained the old style
of rolling the barrels every two weeks – a somewhat
laborious task, but absolutely worthwhile – as well as
Zonnebloem Chardonnay 2015 and the Drostdy-Hof
Chardonnay 2015.
Probably the closest in style to how the first famous
sparkling wine of France was experienced, Demi-Sec, a
distinctive style of Methode Cap Classique (MCC) and
Krone recently introduced the Demi-Sec Krone Night
Nectar using Chardonnay Pinot Noir grapes that have
been harvested at night whilst the Krone Chardonnay
Pinot Noir master blends the two varietals to create a
still version which is crisp, elegant, rich and delicate.