Chardonnay deserves more. If cabernet sauvignon is king, chardonnay is the queen of grapes — but for too long the varietal has been blighted by the hard-to-drink, overly oaky and ABC (anything but chardonnay) tags.
May 21 was World Chardonnay Day, but it passed without much fanfare.
Chardonnay is an expressive grape that makes some of the best white wines in the world, commanding among the highest prices too. Yet some won’t touch it because of the outdated belief that it’s too oaky. Three decades ago this was the case, but no longer. South Africa is making some world-class stuff. At the recent Decanter World Wine Awards in London I tasted — blind — some of the top examples of what the US, Australia, New Zealand, France and others are making. South Africa is right up there.
I’m sure the organisers won’t mind if I mention a few things about the judging ahead of the release of results in mid-June. First, I have no idea what specific wines have done well for South Africa, but I can reveal that from initial results it appears chardonnay might have outperformed the country’s perennial darling, chenin blanc.
At the 2025 awards, chenin claimed more gold medals than chardonnay by seven to five. On an “exit poll/back of the fag packet” reckoning (that is, my scribbled notes after judging), it appears that in 2026 chardonnay trumped chenin six to two. (It must be noted that these figures still need to be ratified, as all golds selected at panel level were assessed in the second round of judging by the awards’ co-chairs — and some wines may have their lustre amended from gold to silver. Or, gold medal wines can be deemed particularly good and elevated to platinum status.)
South Africa has form for chardonnay at the Decanter awards, with neighbouring producers Jordan and DeMorgenzon making a case for a special pocket of chardonnay-friendly terroir in the Stellenboschkloof.
In 2014, Jordan’s barrel-fermented chardonnay from the 2013 vintage was awarded the international chardonnay trophy — a feat that DeMorgenzon replicated with its 2015 reserve chardonnay. Jordan’s heralded Nine Yards chardonnay won the trophy in 2012.
Some years ago Andrew Jefford, one of the world’s best wine writers, was invited by De Wetshof in Robertson to its biennial chardonnay celebration, which sadly has since been discontinued. In his speech he said chardonnay has produced some of the world’s greatest white wines, but noted it is widely known as “chard” or “chardy”, almost like a favourite hound. He bemoaned this familiarity, saying it has the potential to “erode and belittle chardonnay’s reputation”.
“It’s the same grape variety, which fills hundreds of thousands of bottles every year with white wine, which feels as familiar and as comfortable to many of its drinkers as an old jumper or a pair of slippers,” he said.
Restraint is what sets South African chardonnays apart
Yet chardonnay retains its ability to “reflect its growing conditions with often dramatic fidelity”, regardless of whether the grape is planted in New Zealand, Australia, Champagne or Burgundy. Jefford compared the different expressions of chardonnay in Chablis (“a still, dry white wine which is indeed balanced and palatable, though it’s still fresh, quick and mouthwatering”) to that of Puligny-Montrachet, where the wine becomes more weighty, “richer, fuller and denser … cream, nuts and wild mushrooms”.
Chardonnay loves to travel — and it does so well, he said. “It retains its agreeable varietal character, yet can also derive complexity, intrigue and singularity from local growing conditions. It’s also able to adapt itself to a wide variety of climates without getting flustered or losing its intrinsic balance.
“Much of the pleasure of chardonnay lies in its secondary aromas, its textures and its development in bottle. These are all areas in which sensitive winery work with various degrees of barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation and lees contact or exposure can bring intricacy.”
Restraint is what sets South African chardonnays apart. Producers have moved on from enthusiastic barrel ferments and use oak selectively. The best examples nowadays display vibrant acidity and even a saline note, all appropriate to the amount of fruit in the wine.
Buyers need look no further than Richard Kershaw’s multiple exquisitely detailed examples and the chardonnays from Crystallum (Clay Shales), Creation, Capensis, Delaire Graff, Draaiboek and Iona. Leeu Passant offers a scant 385 cases from a special Helderberg site, or, if you have a genuine passion for chardonnay and a few grand to drop on a single beautiful bottle, try its “bulletproof” Radicales Libres. Then there’s Thelema, Tokara, Paul Clüver, Neil Ellis, Terra Loci, Kruger, Hogan, Oak Valley … the list goes on. South African chardonnay deserves the crown.
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