Cuvée Royale

Please note: Award stickers are applied at the producer's discretion and may not be present on all bottles.

Only the best Chardonnay grapes grown on the finest Stellenbosch soils are hand-selected to make this extraordinary Blanc de Blancs. Gentle whole bunch pressing yields only the finest cuvée. Primary fermentation took place in a stainless steel tank to ensure freshness and primary fruit.

This will be remembered as a very dry year with the lowest rainfall of 476 mm ever logged in our records since 1976, 33% below our long term average. Fortunately, Simonsig has sufficient water resources to supplement natural rainfall. While yields were slightly lower than 2011, cooler conditions resulted in better quality and more concentrated fruit from smaller berries. The 2012 harvest started a little later than usual on 18 January. Despite the drought, the cool growing season resulted in good levels of acidity and the concentration of fruit was better than the hot 2011 vintage. Although Simonsig Estate and the Stellenbosch region had a smaller vintage, the wines are top quality across the whole spectrum.

After maturing in our cellars for more than 4 years the Cuvée Royale has now reached optimum maturity and can be enjoyed now. Careful cellaring will develop more depth of flavour and complexity.