DE WETSHOF BATELEUR SWOOPS ON GOLD AT CHARDONNAY DU MONDE

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De Wetshof Estate, the renowned Chardonnay producing wine estate in Robertson, received an early birthday present to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its Bateleur Vineyard from which one of South Africa’s most iconic Chardonnays is made. At this year’s International Chardonnay du Monde
Competition, De Wetshof’s Bateleur 2009 was one of only three South African wines to receive Gold Medal status.
This was the 19th time the Chardonnay du Monde was held where 908 wines from 43 countries were judged. The judging was held at the Pasteur Institute in Saint-Legar in France, with the results being made public earlier in the week.

According to De Wetshof proprietor and cellarmaster Danie de Wet, the success of the Bateleur can only be attributed to the soil and climate of the Bateleur vineyard’s terrain where the vines were planted in 1987.
“The Bateleur vineyard is planted to hand-selected Burgundian plant material chosen in the vineyards outside Beaune, the cuttings of which were transported to South Africa in the 1980s.
Fortunately for us, this material found a home in Robertson’s limestone rich soils enabling the location to express itself beautifully through the wine,” he says.

“The first vintage was in 1991, and since then the wine has taken on an increasingly classical profile as the vines have aged. Since the very first grapes for the 2009 vintage arrived at the cellar I knew that this was possibly the best Bateleur vintage De Wetshof was going to produce to date. I am thus glad that our faith in this vintage has been underscored by the Chardonnay du Monde judging panel.”
De Wet said that the results at this year’s competition once more proved that South Africa had arrived on the world stage as a Chardonnay producer.

“We are honoured to receive this accolade from the world’s leading Chardonnay competition and hope this shows the world that South Africa is capable of producing white wines, and especially Chardonnay, that can compete with the best in the world.

“The fact that from the 43 countries whose wine were judged, South Africa was listed among the top 10 Chardonnay producers is an accolade to all those who over the past two decades made it their passion to bring South Africa to the fore as a leading producer of quality Chardonnay wines.”