Chardonnay has had a bit of a chequered history in SA. Up to the end of the 1970s there were no vineyards to speak of. This was partly because there had been little interest in what was considered an obscure French cultivar, but also because the planting material was so compromised that it was impossible to make fine wine from it.
It was at this time that the Cape’s producers began to discover the palette of international varieties missing from our vineyards. Between the early 1970s and 1980 many of the varieties we now take for granted — cabernet franc, sauvignon blanc and merlot, for example — were first made available by the plant quarantine authorities to the country’s growers. For some reason chardonnay was not included, leaving the more ambitious producers with little alternative but to smuggle in their requirements.
The story of this huge enterprise — involving all of the industry’s major players and quite a few of the smaller ones — has been told often enough. The net result was that by the second half of the 1980s the famous Burgundy white variety had become part of the Cape’s vinous offering (though most of the vines were very young, and winemakers were still learning how to handle the fruit).
Among the pioneers Danie de Wet of Dewetshof has played a key role. He was an early enthusiast (some of his illicit vines fuelled the crisis that eventually resolved the shortage of planting material). He also sourced the Burgundian cuttings that became Clone C9 and planted these on a carefully selected site on his estate. This vineyard became the source of his Bateleur cuvée.
A recent tasting of Dewetshof Bateleur chardonnays back to 2006 reflected the inherent quality of the wine coming from that site. Despite different vinification styles — it used to be fashionable to make the wine with discernible, quite charry oak, whereas lately a leaner, more flinty aesthetic prevails — there was clearly a common thread running through the line-up.
The 2022 — just released and only in very small quantities — was one of three standout wines. It showed fabulous concentration and perfect balance, the quality of the fruit unimpeded by the oaking regime. Judging from how well the 2006 has matured, the 2022 has a long life ahead of it. The 2018 was equally impressive, still so fresh that the citrus notes typical of chardonnay had an almost tangerine whiff to them.
Among the other Dewetshof wines sampled on the same occasion, the two I liked most were the unwooded Bon Vallon 2024 and the 2023 The Site (produced from a vineyard that lies between Bateleur and Bon Vallon).
As we come into summer and the cooler weather gives way to hot days and warmer nights, consumption of white wine naturally rises. Chardonnay is often the compromise variety when some people are looking for a lighter red, and others for a white wine with a bit of personality. In fact, it’s surprising the number of people who think a chardonnay is a red wine when it’s served to them in a black glass, or when red food colouring has been added to it in the glass.
South Africans are spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping for chardonnay. Lisa Perrotti-Brown, one of the international judges at this year’s Trophy Wine Show and a world authority on chardonnay, was generous in her praise of the wines she sampled at the show. These included the trophy-winning Delaire-Graff Banhoek 2022, the Lothian of Elgin 2021, the Blaauwklippen 2023 and the Glen Carlou 2023.
Other great chardonnays sampled recently include the Paul Cluver Estate Chardonnay 2021, the Survivor Tradauw Highlands 2022 and the Thorne and Daughter Menagerie Mountain Chardonnay 2021. All three were classics of a kind, and all very different. The Cluver wine is always refined, linear, unshowy and very satisfying. The Survivor is aromatically plush, yet flinty and crisp on the palate. John Seccombe’s Menagerie Mountain is completely luminous, and a real bargain at around R275 a bottle.
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