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Robertson salutes its icon on International Chardonnay Day 2012

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in the news » Robertson salutes its icon on International Chardonnay Day 2012
published on: 04 June 2012      source: The Robertson Wine Valley
 
The Robertson Wine Valley (RWV) honoured its passionate focus on Chardonnay, as both a still wine and Cap Classique, and its recent Chardonnay accolades by participating in the third annual global virtual celebration of the Chardonnay grape: 2012 International Chardonnay Day.
International Chardonnay Day is a concept started a few years ago by social media guru and internationally certified sommelier, Rick Bakas, to bring together online a community to celebrate the Chardonnay grape. Using the #ChardDay hash tag, on 24 May annually, onliners can see where Chardonnay tastings are taking place and by whom, using the Spotlight app. These celebrations started in 2010, centred on Napa Valley Chardonnay, but the circle has widened enormously since then and now includes many wine-loving communities around the world who use a variety of social media sites to spread the word of Chardonnay. The RWV joined the 2012 International Chardonnay Day celebrations on 24th May, extending the virtual celebration of Chardonnay with spirited Tweeting and Facebooking. The reach of the 2011 International Chardonnay Day was 4-million, exceeding the readership of Wine Spectator, the world’s largest wine publication. Virtual wine events like #ChardDay 2012 are a demonstration of the use of social media to reach wine drinkers around the world without the reliance on traditional media.

Robertson Wine Valley has received a steady stream of prestigious awards for their Chardonnays and Blanc de Blancs over the years. The latest achievements include two of the three Gold Medals at the world’s largest and most important Chardonnay competition, Chardonnay du Monde 2012: for the De Wetshof Bateleur Chardonnay 2009 and the Rietvallei Special Select Chardonnay 2011. RWV farms also received 2 Silver Medals: for the Bon Courage Jacques Bruére Blanc de Blancs 2006 and Weltevrede Place of Rocks Chardonnay 2011. In addition, late last year, four of De Wetshof’s seven Chardonnays achieved scores of 90+ in Wine Advocate published by Robert Parker; The 2012 John Platter Guide awarded De Wetshof’s new Chardonnay, The Site, one of only two 5-star ratings for Chardonnays; and the RWV has won the Wine Magazine Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge twice with their Blanc de Blancs: in 2010 with its Bon Courage Jacques Bruére Blanc de Blancs 2007 and in 2003 with its Weltevrede Philip Jonker Brut (now called The Ring).

Philip Jonker, Cellarmaster and Co-owner of Weltevrede Estate has made Chardonnay his life’s work. A Chardonnay expert, he is erudite and articulate on the subject. He gives a compelling account of RWV’s growth in becoming the foremost Chardonnay producing area in the Cape Winelands.

Philip explains, “RWV didn’t choose Chardonnay. It chose the Valley. There is a natural development of the establishment of vineyards over decades in South Africa, depending on which varietals thrive where, and over the past thirty years about a quarter of all the Chardonnay vines in our industry were established in our Valley. Due to the fact that people so love our Chardonnays we still don’t have enough, whilst other regions are taking out Chardonnay vineyards as it isn’t working everywhere.

There are myriad environmental factors that have contributed to elevation of RWV Chardonnay. Geology, soils, climate and topography clearly played their part but the pioneering role played by generations of wine farmers in the vineyards and the cellars adds the indispensible human element: people like Danie de Wet who originally brought Chardonnay to our industry, people like my father, Lourens Jonker, who, in the 1970s, was the first to ferment in oak barrels, as they do in Burgundy, and people like the late Graham Beck who recognised the benefits of our calcareous soils whilst farming with thoroughbred horses, a man who had a vision for Méthode Cap Classique in our Valley, people like Bowen Botha who has passionately advocated Chardonnay from our Valley, the list goes on . . .

RWV Chardonnay covers the full spectrum of price points from high-premium through to the value/volume sector, and of course there is the Valley’s celebrated Blanc de Blancs Méthode Cap Classiques. RWV Chardonnay has shown to have a wide variety of flavour and styles too in its many manifestations from the thirty-plus producers in the Valley. Both Weltevrede and De Wetshof have seven different Chardonnays in their ranges. During the 90s the RWV busied itself with in-depth focus and research on Chardonnay, investigating which factors lead to award-winning Chardonnay, and also which terroir, viticultural and winemaking practices lead to which style of Chardonnay. We discovered the amazing variety of Chardonnay in our Valley, and determined a minimum of six different styles offered by our producers. We have applied what we know to continually perfect the Chardonnays we offer. Gone are the days of clumsy Chardonnay monsters. Today you will find our Chardonnays to be complex, yet clear and precise in their expression of fruit, alive and fresh with mouth-watering minerality.”

To contact the Robertson Wine Valley, call 023 626 3167 or visit www.robertsonwinevalley.com.
 
 
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