Imagine manicured green lawns, crystal blue waters, garden furniture to lounge on, a fabulous string quartet, designer chefs’ tables and world-class Chardonnay in one of the most beautiful settings … this is the Hemel-en-Aarde Classic Chardonnay Celebration.
Hemel-en-Aarde Wines is pleased to announce that the Hemel-en-Aarde Classic Chardonnay Celebration will take place for the first time this year on 18 & 19 November. The event will focus on the exceptional quality and the distinctiveness of the Hemel-en-Aarde Chardonnays, the cool climate and excellent terroir.
The Chardonnay Celebration will be more informal than the Pinot Noir Celebration and more aimed at the general wine enthusiast, but it will be conducted with style to showcase the beautiful Chardonnays from the Hemel-en-Aarde. The festival will be hosted at The Thatch House, a luxury holiday villa nestling on the edge of the Klein River Lagoon offering unsurpassed mountain and sea views only 5 min drive from Hermanus CBD.
The Celebration will kick off at 16:00 on Friday, 18 November with the spotlight not only on Chardonnay, but also on all the other wines produced by the 13 wine growers from the Hemel-en-Aarde. The participating wineries include Whalehaven, Southern Right, Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Bouchard Finlayson, Storm Wines, La Vierge, Sumaridge, Newton-Johnson, Restless River, Ataraxia, Creation, Mount Babylon and Domaine Des Dieux.
The Saturday will focus exclusively on Chardonnay in the form of a tutored tasting hosted by Dr Wini Bowman (Cape Master of Wine, respected wine journalist and previous Chairperson of Institute of Cape Wine Masters), followed by a Chardonnay pairing lunch created by some of the best chefs from the area. Tickets for the tutored tasting and the designer chefs’ lunch will be limited to 150 people. The tutored tasting will start at 11:00 on Saturday morning. Chardonnay tastings will continue throughout the afternoon after lunch when guests can emerse themselves in lawn croquet, Boule and sunset boat cruises on the lagoon.
Guests will be able to purchase either individual tickets for the three different events or a weekend pass which will allow access to all events.
The Celebration will conclude on Saturday evening to allow guests the freedom to visit their favourite wineries in the Hemel-en-Aarde on the Sunday.
Late November is a great time to host an event of this nature in Hermanus as it is a quieter time in this coastal town and therefore offers guests a great number of accommodation options. Hermanus is indeed known for its long beautiful summer’s days with little or no wind at this time of the year. In addition the event will also give the local economy a pre-season economic boost.
And transport to and from the event will be made easy and fun with the Hermanus Wine Hoppers running routes from different pick-up points for the duration of the festival.
There is a good enough reason to come to Hermanus to join in celebrating this unique cultivar from such a unique wine growing area: “with only 350ha of vineyards, the Hemel-en-Aarde is one of the smallest winegrowing areas, but also one of the best-performing in South Africa and on the world stage. Today we are especially proud of the recent local and international achievements of our Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. Come celebrate with us” Says Dieter Odendaal, Coordinator for Hemel-en-Aarde Wines.
Save the date. More information to follow.