MOST OF the South African wines assessed for Winemag's 2021 Prescient Chardonnay Report were from grapes harvested in 2020, which the judges felt was “a slightly lesser vintage” relative to 2019 when it comes to this variety, “the wines not having the same fruit concentration”. Their absolute favourites of the 93 Chardonnays submitted by 67 producers were: from Stellenbosch cellars, Delaire Graff Estate Banghoek Reserve 2020 and Neil Ellis Whitehall 2020, Constantia Uitsig Reserve 2020 and the Village 2020 from Elgin producer Paul Cluver – all scored 94/100 (outstanding if not extraordinary), with the latter also a gold medallist at the International Wine Challenge (UK) earlier this year and arguably ‘best bang for your buck' at R120 a bottle.
On the panel: Winemag editor Christian Eedes (chair) together with retailers Roland Peens and James Pietersen of Wine Cellar, Cape Town. For the full report, click here.
THE PANEL'S FAVOURITES
Constantia Uitsig Reserve Chardonnay 2020
R250pb ex-cellar, Constantia
De Grendel Op die Berg Chardonnay 2020 (WO Ceres)
R300pb ex-cellar, Panorama-Durbanville
Delaire Graff Estate Banghoek Reserve Chardonnay 2020
R350pb ex-cellar, Banghoek-Stellenbosch
Eikendal Chardonnay 2019
R225 ex-cellar, Helderberg-Stellenbosch
La Vierge Jezebelle Chardonnay 2020
R158pb ex-cellar, Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge
Môreson FYM Chardonnay 2020
R390pb ex-cellar, Franschhoek
Neil Ellis Whitehall Chardonnay 2020 (WO Elgin)
R295pb ex-cellar, Helshoogte-Stellenbosch
Oak Valley Groenlandberg Chardonnay 2020
R255pb ex-cellar, Grabouw-Elgin
Paul Cluver Village Chardonnay 2020
R120pb ex-cellar, Grabouw-Elgin
Warwick White Lady Chardonnay 2020
R390pb ex-cellar, Simonsberg-Stellenbosch
