Johann de Wet, father of Danie, the current owner of the De Wetshof Estate, laid the foundation for the estate as it is today in 1952. Under Danie de Wet's leadership, De Wetshof has grown into one of South Africa's leading wineries. The vineyard now spans an impressive two hundred hectares, planted with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, semilor, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Danie has become a master at utilizing cutting-edge technology to dramatically improve the quality of his wines. For example, the vineyards have been fully mapped using satellite imagery. This allows Danie to plant precisely the right grape variety in the right spot within the vineyard. One of his innovations is aging the Chardonnay on the lees, meaning on the dead yeast cells. These yeast cells eventually mix with the wine, making it rounder and more powerful. This creates many more impressions in the wine, and we can certainly smell and taste it!
This wine is aged on its lees from February to August. A prerequisite for this is that the grapes are perfectly healthy, but you can leave that to De Wet. The grapes come from stony, chalky slopes. These give it a distinctly fresh and mineral character, beautifully accentuated by the aging in stainless steel, without any oak. This way, it remains beautifully pure and juicy, and delicious to drink! On the nose, this Wetshof Chardonnay Sur Lie has hints of red apple, tropical fruit, and a hint of butter. The mild palate has excellent thickness and abundant aromas of peaches, apricots, butterscotch, and a hint of citrus. What a gem this South African Chardonnay Sur Lie is.
