A single Chardonnay vineyard planted in 1988 on the slopes of Chamonix Estate in Franschhoek secured a Gold medal for the Chamonix Blanc de Blancs Cap Classique 2022 at this year’s Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, South Africa’s leading competition for this style of sparkling wine made to the traditional method of secondary bottle-fermentation.
This year’s Amorim Cap Classique Challenge marked the 24th rendition of this renowned show which saw a record number of 152 wines entered. The Blanc de Blancs category attracted 43 entries and is deemed as one of the most competitive due to the sterling reputation Cap Classiques made from white wines has achieved through the years.
To win Gold, as the case with the Chamonix Blanc de Blancs, a wine has to achieve a judges’ score of between 93 and 95pts, a rare achievement noting a wine of true excellence.
Neil Bruwer, Chamonix winemaker, says the recognition for the estate’s Blanc de Blancs underscores the distinctive nature of the farm’s Franschhoek mountain terroir.
“The Chardonnay vineyards run up to 400m above sea-level ensuring cool, mild conditions and exposure to southerly breezes,” he says. “Soils of greywhacke and clay provide excellent drainage, as well as ensuring the kind of growing matter Chardonnay vines require to ripen grapes of structure, nuance and true varietal character.”
Grapes for Chamonix Blanc de Blancs are whole-bunch pressed, whereafter the primary fermentation occurs in old oak barrels (70%), while the balance of the juice is fermented in stainless steel. The base wine is kept on lees for seven months, whereafter secondary fermentation takes place in bottle over a period of 24 months.
“The aim is to do justice to Chardonnay from a particular site through a winemaking procedure I would like to call craftmanship,” says Bruwer. “Making Cap Classique is not one of minimum intervention, as you are in fact making two wines with the primary and secondary fermentations. For the base-wine we believe extended lees contact and exposure to old oak provide a statuesque, noble wine, the nature and quality of which is expanded by the two years secondary fermentation in bottle. This
is where the sparkle grows and the base wine is given a new lease on life, and a truly brilliant one at that.
“Being the leading competition for the Cap Classique wine sector, it is a real honour for Chamonix to be on the Gold medal podium at the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, especially as there are so many terrific wines in the Blanc de Blancs category.”
For further information on Chamonix and its wines, go to www.chamonixestate.co.za.