Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Chardonnay 2009
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Other Vintages
2000-
Wine
Spectator
One of South Africa's premier and best-known labels, Fleur du Cap, is a member of the Distell group. The Fleur du Cap wines are made from grapes meticulously selected from superior vineyard blocks in the Cape Coastal region and are made in a contemporary style which captures and reflects the highly sought-after qualities of varietal character and terroir.
Leading the way, this new generation of wines is crafted in compliance with universal guidelines to ensure environmentally friendly winemaking practices. Winemaker Andrea Freeborough strives to make well-versed wines that reflect minimal intervention in the cellar. Great skill, unwavering dedication and participative team work lies behind the success of the Fleur du Cap wines. Making wine "the way Mother Nature intended" requires greater care from the winemaking team as each step of the intricate winemaking process has to be gently and sensitively handled to produce wines that express their terroir and varietal character.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
South Africa’s most famous wine-producing district, Stellenbosch, surrounds the historic town with the same name; fine winemaking here dates back to the late 1600s. Its valleys of granite, sandstone and alluvial loam soils between the towering blue-grey mountains of Stellenbosch, Simonsberg and Helderberg have the capacity to produce beautiful wines from many varieties. The climate is warm Mediterranean, tempered by the cool Atlantic air of nearby False Bay.
Perhaps most well-known for its Pinotage and Bordeaux blends, Stellenbosch also produces noteworthy wines from Syrah, Chenin blanc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc. The district’s wards—Banghoek, Bottelary, Devon Valley, Jonkershoek Valley, Papegaaiberg, Polkadraai Hills and Simonsberg-Stellenbosch—all produce distinctive wines from vines with relatively low yields.