South Africa
Location De Wetshof Estate in the Robertson Region - 160 km from Cape Town - is one of South Africas premier chardonnay houses, creating a wide range of wine styles from this versatile varietal. Located at the Breede River that runs through the property one of the most precious resources is secured
De Wetshof Estate in the Robertson Region - 160 km from Cape Town - is one of South Africas premier chardonnay houses, creating a wide range of wine styles from this versatile varietal. Located at the Breede River that runs through the property one of the most precious resources is secured. Water.
As the first registered wine estate in the Robertson Wine Valley, De Wetshof has become known internationally as South Africa’s eminent Chardonnay House. The De Wet family’s winemaking heritage can be traced back to 1694 when the first De Wets arrived at the Cape.
But the real creator of the farm is Danie de Wet. He studied winemaking in Geisenheim Germany and when he came back to South Africa he had fallen in love with a certain varietal Chardonnay, a grape unknown at that time in SA. The story goes that Danie smuggled seedlings stuffed in his socks and. up the trouser legs through customs. And so he was the first who planted Chardonnay in SA. The limestone and chalk soils in Robertson are ideal for Chablis like crips Chardonnays but as Chardonnay was not an approved varietal at that time long court case started that went up to the supreme court as the authorities wanted him to take out all root stock.
This case was settled after Danie’s Chardonnay was served at the state banquet when the Queen visited Nelson Mandela after he became President.
Today Danie is still very involved I the business but his sons Johann (viticulture and marketing) and Peter (winemaker) have taken over the day to day business.
Peter De Wet
Peter followed his father and also studied wine making in Geisenheim. He explains that the terroir of Robertson even though is predominantly chalk and limestone geologically they are somewhat different as those soils feature a unique quality too, explains De Wet.
“In Robertson, the earth is actually turned on a 90 degree axis, it sticks up instead of spreading out. That is, instead of soil changes occurring as you move across the property, our soils change quickly depending on how deep you go. Moving down every several meters, there’s a new soil type,” he said.
As the vine roots dig down through differing areas, with varying compositions of chalk and limestone and thus, varying degrees of water retention, working the vineyards is an exercise in micro-management.
“But once you get them dialled in, spot by spot, that’s where you really get all the complexity,” said de Wet.