The international recognition of Chardonnay as a leading South African wine offering received another boost at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, with Paul Clüver from Elgin being one of two Cape Chardonnays to receive a Platinum award and 97pt score at a show described as the world’s most influential wine competition. Paul Clüver Estate, a pioneer of viticulture and winemaking in the cool-climate Elgin region, received a Platinum award for its revered icon Seven Flags Chardonnay 2020, one of only five South African wines to stake a claim in the Platinum category.
Over 18 200 wines from 54 countries were judged at this year’s Decanter Wine Awards.
According to Paul Clüver, CEO of the Paul Clüver Estate, this award underscores the international recognition of the quality of South African Chardonnay, which must now be seen as one of the country’s major wine offerings.
“Chardonnay is not for nothing the most planted white grape in the world,” says Clüver. “The fact is wine drinkers all over recognise what Chardonnay offers in terms of its dazzlingly diverse flavour profile and the variety’s ability to express the geographical source where the grapes are grown. Here the Cape has shown in just over 40 years since the first Chardonnays were made in the country that South Africa has a vast number of sites and terroir expressions to offer an incredible palette of wines made from this grape.”