Thursday, 23 October, 2014
Longridge wine estate
The report is based on a blind tasting by industry
experts and chaired by Christian Eedes, respected wine critic and former editor
of the SA Wine Magazine. Participation is by invitation only and Eedes select
what he believes is the 60 best Chardonnays in the country.
According to Longridge vigneron Jasper Raats, they are
delighted with the result. “Although
Longridge has a long history of producing good chardonnays, this was the first
time that we were invited to submit a sample for judging. I think this could be attributed to the
successes of the 2012 vintage, both locally and internationally.” Acclaimed UK critic Tim Atkins MW scored the
Longridge Chardonnay 94 points in his SA Report, it made the SA Top 100 SA Wine
list (for the third year in a row) and was a finalist in the Diner’s Club Young
Winemaker of the Year.
Although Raats states that he and his team (Hendrien De Munck and Albert Le Roux) work very hard to produce the best possible Chardonnay, he admitted to being pleasantly surprised by making the top ten of this prestigious report. “My wines normally require some time to reach their full potential and this vintage was only bottled very recently, actually just prior to the submission deadline.”
He further says that this report definitely carries weight in the industry and will help to further build our reputation as a serious Chardonnay producer. “We don’t make the Chardonnay because it is trendy or fashionable, but because the varietal is so sublimely suited to our land particularly and the Helderberg slopes in general,” explains Raats. “The fact that four of the top 10 wines came from Helderberg producers is definitely proof of this.”
For more information, visit www.longridge.co.za