Chardonnay

Delicious paired with vichyssoise, roast veal with horseradish crème fraîche or rich fish dishes.

On the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain between the wine-growing areas of Franschhoek, Stellenbosch and Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa.

Grapes were whole-bunch pressed and inoculated in stainless steel tanks. On the third day after fermentation started, the wine was transferred to 300-litre French oak barrels – 35% new and 65% second-fill. After fermentation, the wine was kept on the primary lees for three to four months and batonnage was carried out fortnightly. It was then racked and returned to the barrels for another six months, totalling ten months before bottling.

Babylonstoren is one of the oldest Cape Dutch farms, set at the foot of Simonberg in the Franschhoek wine valley. It has a fruit and vegetable garden of beauty and diversity, unique accommodation, fine food and wine, and evokes a sense of wellbeing. Our wines are produced in a state-of-the-art winery and are made to showcase the soils and climate where their grapes are grown. The Tasting Room sits adjacent to the Wine Cellar, offering views of the conical Babylonstoren hill, Simonsberg and the Banghoek Mountains. We have about 94 hectares (232 acres) under vine and produce 13 different grape varieties, with our highest vines – pinot noir and chardonnay – lying against Simonsberg at some 600 metres above sea level. Led by cellar master Charl Coetzee and winemaker Klaas Stoffberg, the farm’s 2011 harvest led to the first bottling of wine under the Babylonstoren label.