Bateleur Chardonnay

An elegantly muscular wine, Bateleur can be enjoyed with leg of lamb and other roasted red meat dishes, as well as with certain cheeses.

This premier vineyard, one of the oldest Chardonnay vineyards in South Africa, was planted in July 1987 from a very special selection of plant material which had been imported from Burgundy some years before. The size of the vineyard is 3,51 Ha on which 13,668 vines are planted. Vineyard block No: 18B. Wine of Origin De Wetshof Estate, Robertson, South Africa. The Robertson Valley is characterised by cold winters and sunny summers, with an average annual rainfall of 350-400mm. In summer a fresh southerly breeze from the Cape L'Agulhas coast has a cooling effect on the vineyards, allowing the grapes to ripen evenly and in perfect balance. Nights are chilly and during summer months a mist often shrouds the vineyards until late morning. The dry climate and the bracing breeze keep pests to a minimum, resulting in sparse spraying programmes. Computerised irrigation systems linked to weather station data and the monitoring of soil moisture-content ensures the vines are given the correct amount of water needed to produce grapes of optimum ripeness and developed flavours. Rocky mountain gravelly soil with an abundance of free limestone and a very high pH mixed with a pronounced clay content giving a substantial water retaining capacity ensures superb growing conditions allowing optimum varietal expression from this vineyard.

The grapes are picked in the coolness of morning to capture the beautifully elegant complexities of pear-drop and citrus fruit flavours characterising this vineyard's fruit. Once de-stemming, pressing and overnight settling have been completed, the juice is racked off from the sediment and moved into French oak barrels specially selected by Monsieur Christian Radoux to enhance fruit quality during barrel-fermentation and maturation. After fermentation, the wine remains on the lees under controlled temperatures. Weekly stirring (battonnage) of the lees in the barrels ensures maximum depth of flavour is released into the wine. After some months the wines are racked off the lees and returned to barrels to complete the wood-maturation until it has reached the desired standard for bottling.

The name De Wetshof has been synonymous with the production of fine wines in South Africa since the 1970’s. As the first registered wine estate in the Robertson Wine Valley De Wetshof has become known internationally as South Africa’s eminent Chardonnay House due to the pioneering role it played in introducing this noble Burgundian grape to the country. The De Wet family’s winemaking heritage can however be traced back to 1694 when the first De Wets arrived at the Cape and immediately made a mark on the South African wine industry. Today De Wetshof is one of the few third generation wine estates in South Africa. Here Danie de Wet proprietor and cellarmaster is assisted by sons Johann (viticulture and marketing) and Peter (winemaker).