Chardonnay

The elegance and substance of this wine make it an excellent companion to mushroom risotto, creamy pasta dishes, rich fish dishes, hollandaise-based dishes, and steak béarnaise. ​

Babylonstoren is one of the oldest Cape Dutch farms, set at the foot of Simonberg in the Franschhoek wine valley. It has a fruit and vegetable garden of beauty and diversity, unique accommodation, fine food and wine, and evokes a sense of wellbeing. Our wines are produced in a state-of-the-art winery and are made to showcase the soils and climate where their grapes are grown. The Tasting Room sits adjacent to the Wine Cellar, offering views of the conical Babylonstoren hill, Simonsberg and the Banghoek Mountains. We have about 94 hectares (232 acres) under vine and produce 13 different grape varieties, with our highest vines – pinot noir and chardonnay – lying against Simonsberg at some 600 metres above sea level. Led by cellar master Charl Coetzee and winemaker Klaas Stoffberg, the farm’s 2011 harvest led to the first bottling of wine under the Babylonstoren label.

The grapes for this Chardonnay are sourced from vineyards located on the slopes of the Simonsberg Mountain, nestled between the wine-growing areas of Franschhoek, Stellenbosch, and Paarl in the Western Cape, South Africa. The soils are predominantly Klapmuts/Longlands types of Malmesbury shale origin, providing an ideal foundation for high-quality Chardonnay cultivation.

Upon harvest, the grapes are whole-bunch pressed and inoculated in stainless steel tanks. On the third day after fermentation commences, the wine is transferred to French oak barrels, where it undergoes maturation. After fermentation, the wine is kept on the primary lees for about three to four months, with bâtonnage (lees stirring) every three weeks. It is then racked and returned to the barrels for an additional seven months, totaling 11 months of maturation before bottling.