Suitcase Chardonnay and Carpetbaggers

Andrew Jefford’s long awaited blog on SA Chardonnay finally appeared last week and it must come as a bitter disappointment to the organizers of the Celebration of Chardonnay. Andy vouchsafes tasting notes and scores for a dozen wines, one quarter of which didn’t even feature among the 39 served at De Wetshof on the last Friday of October: Crystallum Clay Shales Chardonnay, Overberg2013, DeMorgenzon Chardonnay Reserve, Stellenbosch2013 and the Meerlust Chardonnay, Stellenbosch2013.

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But perhaps the bitterest tannin was the drive by shooting of Robertson Chardonnay, supplied as a quote from Eben Sadie who was not even present at the tasting. “Today’s avant-garde prefer to work with other varieties. Why not Chardonnay? I asked Eben Sadie. ‘You can’t. You need limestone; you need 45˚ latitude. The energy, the sun here, the brightness is too much. Some grapes are not meant to move. Robertson’s got the perfect soil, but the altitude’s wrong, the light’s wrong. For me, the two worlds are continental viticulture and Mediterranean. We’ve taken grapes from 45˚ latitude and planted them at 33˚. When you copy, you should at least copy the right thing.’ ” Ouch!