The wine displays bright, golden-green hues and delicate smoky flavours from seven months in French barriques. The end result is a smooth, creamy wine with an appealingly crisp aftertaste.
On its own, or with curries, "waterblommetjiebredie" or a range of fish dishes.
variety : Chardonnay [ Chardonnay, Viognier ]
winemaker : Philip Jordaan & Shawn Thompson
wine of origin : Western Cape
analysis : alc : 14.0 % vol rs : 4.5 g/l pH : 3.4 ta : 5.8 g/l
type : White wooded
pack : Bottle closure : Cork
in the vineyard : Background
Du Toitskloof Wine Cellar (DTK) was established by six wine farmers as a cooperative winery in 1962. Today it has 22 members whose vineyards all lie within a 10 km radius of the cellar. It is located near the town of Rawsonville in the Breede River Valley, at the entrance to the Du Toitskloof Mountain Pass. The stony soils of the area are ideally suited to grape growing. DTK's award-winning wines are known for their excellent quality at affordable prices, and during the last five years it has been rated the South African cellar offering the best value by WINE magazine, three times. The cellar produces some 10 million litres of wine a year from 13,500 tons of grapes, of which 60% is white and 40% red. Its major white cultivar is Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Semillon.The main red cultivars are Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinotage.
In the vineyards
The grapes of both these cultivars are harvested in vineyards within a few kilometres from the cellar. The vines, grafted on to Richter 99 rootstock, are relatively young - ten years in the case of the Chardonnay and five years in the case of the Viognier - and in both instances they grow in deep, sandy loam. Leaf canopies are well managed and protect the grapes against excessive sunlight. Based on soil moisture levels as measured by neutron hydrometers in the vineyards, controlled irrigation is applied, thereby also ensuring small berries filled with flavour.