First Chardonnay in Survivor Cellar Master Series a big hit
“IF BABOONS could talk, they’d tell you that Chardonnay is their favourite fruit,” says Meyer Joubert, cellarmaster and viticulturist at Joubert-Tradauw outside Barrydale in the Klein Karoo. The baboons (and the birds) present a challenge he could do without, but what he manages to keep from them makes for wine under his own label as well as those of producers hundreds of kilometres away who know that what Joubert has growing in his Vleiplaas Chardonnay Block V7 is special. And that’s not all they want…
Last year saw the launch of the Cellar Master Series in the Survivor range from the Overhex winery outside Worcester. The first of the CMS bottlings, selling at a premium to other Survivor wines, was the 2019 Pendulum blend of Cabernet Franc and Merlot, both components also from Joubert-Tradauw, with newly-appointed Survivor cellarmaster Pierre Wahl responsible for the final stages of the winemaking. A lovely red. However, the first white wine in the Survivor Cellar Master Series, from the 2022 vintage, has been received with an even warmer welcome: awards for the best Chardonnay and the top-scoring white overall at the 2023 Trophy Wine Show.
The Cellar Master Series Chardonnay, WO Tradouw, is the second from this variety under a Survivor label, the first being WO Elgin, a different style, with the 2021 vintage selling for considerably less. Apparently the 22-year-old block of Chardonnay out Barrydale way still has many years of productivity ahead of it – enough to acquire Heritage status in terms of the Old Vine Project, which can only heighten the demand for those grapes.
* Survivor wine tastings at Overhex by appointment.
SURVIVOR CELLAR MASTER SERIES CHARDONNAY 2022
WO Tradouw, Klein Karoo. Two-hectare block of vines (Clone 277 R110) on decomposed Bokkeveld shale soil, planted in 2001, cooled by a south-easterly wind. Longer, drier ripening season; late harvest. Grapes hand-harvested early in the morning at 23.4° Balling and whole-bunch pressed. A third of the juice fermented in stainless steel tank, a third in new, untoasted 300L French oak barrels and a third in 400L barrels. Wine matured for seven months before blending and bottling. Total production: 3749 × 750ml.
Alc 14.0 | RS 3.5 | TA 6.6 | pH 3.3
Tasting notes by Michael Fridjhon, chairman of the judges at The Trophy Wine Show: Green-tinged pale straw. Lime blossom and lemon zest aromas, fresh, pure and linear, with faint whiffs of fresh-sliced pineapple melded with wet stone notes on the palate. Taut, long and pithy.
Excerpts from the winemaker’s tasting notes: Aromatic bouquet of spring blossoms, crunchy yellow apples, dried pineapple, cinnamon, ripe grapefruit and mandarin zest. On the palate, a medium-plus sherbet-like intensity, followed by a mineral quality, then a balance of sweet, sour and salty nuances. Bright citrus takes the lead with whiffs of lemon meringue pie, almonds and grapefruit pith. Old World flintiness on the finish.
Food pairing suggestions: scallops and langoustines; lightly-seasoned white fish with squeezed lemon; sushi.
R370pb ex-cellar, Worcester.
