The anticipated influence of this year’s long, cool and slow-ripening vintage in the Cape Winelands is currently present in the tanks and barrels of Chamonix Estate’s young wines from 2021, and the cellar team is champing at the bit to introduce these to the discerning wine public.
Picking-season in Chamonix’s Franschhoek mountain vineyards commenced two weeks later than normal with the cool conditions persisting through-out the harvest. This resulted in a harvest only ending at the end of April, the wines of which are being seen as destined for classic status.
Neil Bruwer, Chamonix winemaker, said the character of this year’s harvest began last year with a cold, wet Cape winter. “Last year saw generally cool conditions on Chamonix throughout the vineyards’ various developing phases,” says Bruwer. “There was the cold wet winter during which we had around 800mm of rain, followed by a truly mild, brisk spring. And when we began looking for the summer heat-waves of November and December, well, they were just missing in action.”
The two or three 30°C-plus days Chamonix experienced in January were about as warm as the season got, and harvesting commenced at the beginning of February and continued in unseasonably mild and temperate conditions. A splash of rain in March cooled conditions down further, causing a slight lapse in harvesting schedule, but fortunately not resulting in any diseases among the vines.
“Being on a mountain slope with our vineyards going up to well over 400m, the plants are constantly exposed to the southerly breezes that drift in over Franschhoek at this time of year,” says Bruwer. “Not only do these keep the vines and grape bunches fresh, but they also fan away the first signs of downy mildew or unwelcome pests.”
With wine, acidity is freshness, and the cool conditions ensured the grapes arrived at the cellar with firm acids and an appealing zest. “In warmer vintages one finds harvested fruit coming in with good acids, only to see the acid dissipate after a few days,” says Bruwer. “This year they held, and the young wines are beautifully balanced in terms of acidity, pH, sugar and alcohol.”
Like the rest of the winelands, Chamonix is seeing Chardonnay of an exceptionally high quality. “The wine currently maturing in oak is absolutely delicious, once again a result of the almost perfect chemistry which, I hear, is a feature of the Cape’s 2021 Chardonnay harvest in general,” he says.
Pinot Noir, another of Chamonix’s signature varieties, has power, elegance and an extraordinary perfume. “It is as if the cool, long vintage with that extra hang-time it afforded the grapes has led to wines of confidence. They are complex, ooze with varietal character, but are not showy or overdone.”
The Bordeaux varieties, including Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, are dense in colour with broad, berry-driven flavour profiles underscored by an earthiness expressing the Chamonix mountainside terror.
According to Chamonix CEO Stefan van Rooyen, this year’s vintage will see some new wines added to the stable of the award-winning Franschhoek Estate. “The first Chamonix Pinot Noir Rosé is almost ready for bottling and is set to be a real crowd-pleaser at the tasting-room, our Arkeste Restaurant and in the retail-space,” he says. “And we decided to start-up our Cap Classique production after a few years out of the sparkling wine game. It is a Chardonnay wine, brilliant expression from this cool vintage and is lying in bottle on the lees for 12 months.”
Having revived the old Chamonix Chenin Blanc vineyard to make the maiden Old Vine Steen from last year’s vintage, the gnarled old vines offered a higher yield for this year’s vintage which should see over 1 500 bottles of this acclaimed wine made compared to last year’s 500.
“Expectations remain high for Chamonix Old Vine Steen after the 2020 vintage captured a 97pt score Decanter magazine,” says Van Rooyen, “but new wine lines such as these provide a fresh impetus to what we do. As custodians of a wonderful piece of land on the mountain of Franschhoek Valley our objective is to do justice to the surroundings by creating the finest wines possible.”