We love Chardonnay and our current wine crush is Nuy Winery Mastery Chardonnay 2016.

The Nuy Mastery range is a wooded wine collection. Nuy Mastery Chardonnay 2016 has been aged for a minimum of 12 months in French and American Oak barrels. This unique Chardonnay has beautifully balanced wood, lime and citrus tones on the nose and palate.

The Winemaking Process

Christo Pienaar has been the winemaker and cellar master at Nuy Winery since 2003 and is the driving force behind this wine.

He tells us that one of the most exciting things about working with Chardonnay is that the wine can be personalised with yeast, wood selection and maturation. The Nuy Valley specifically is very suitable for Chardonnay due to chalky soils – with good grapes the only challenge in the cellar is to let the wine reflect the terroir.

Chardonnay is a true reflection of the winemaker’s style and preference.

Making Perfect Wine

As is to be expected every vintage has its own challenges, whether it is consistency in wine style, weather or vineyard factors.

As Christo told us “You can get the perfect vintage where every factor is aligned, in my 25 years as a winemaker the perfect vintage has happened twice.”

We wanted to know from Christo what makes this specific vintage unique. “We are still experimenting with Chardonnay – we keep some vineyards separate and also prune the vineyards different to try and influence the wine.  As a winemaker I will never stop experimenting in the vineyard or cellar.” he told us.

Hot tip from the winemaker: I try to keep some freshness and fruit in the wine by not over-wooding. In my opinion, rather bottle age chardonnay before you drink it – this adds some complexity to the wine.

How Much Does Terroir Matter?

The chalky soils of the area are a big advantage to growing Chardonnay in the Nuy Valley. The soils give the wine a natural low pH, this is very important for the ageing of the wine.

Because of the warmer climate the grapes are fortunately not plagued by many pests and diseases and ultimately healthy grapes produce good wine. Ironically, the low rainfall in the area helps with irrigation as this is done on an on-demand basis and thus how much water the vineyards receive is managed.

More about Nuy Winery

Nuy Winery is a co-operation established by 10 grape farmers in the Nuy Valley on 16 November 1963 – all growing different varieties of wine grapes and delivering to the cellar to produce the final product. Today, 56 years later, the co-operation is going from strength to strength with 14 members and an ultra-modern tasting room and restaurant.

Nuy on the Hill

With the cellar being located slightly off the beaten track, Nuy Wines saw the need for a specialist venue closer to the popular R60 route and thus, Nuy on the hill was conceptualised in 2015.

Their idea was not only to make their product more accessible to the general public and specifically the R60 passerby but also to match the fine wine experience with a perfect balance of delicious food set in a relaxed atmosphere.

Nuy Mastery Chardonnay 2016 Paired Up

Good wine deserves a great meal and these are some ideas of how you can pair Nuy Mastery Chardonnay 2016 successfully.

Try a creamy pasta, such as this Linguine with Prawns, fish (simple salmon dishes such as this Cured Salmon) or shrimp in garlic and lemon – the reason these dishes pair so well with the wine is because of the balance between the wood, lime and citrus and its mildly buttery feel on the palate.

Wine pairing is not only about the food you pair the wine with, but rather about the friends you drink the wine with. This Chardonnay is best enjoyed chilled with good friends.

RSP of R104.00

This wine sells at per unit and is available online at nuywinery.co.za or at the tasting room, Nuy on the hill, on the R60 between Worcester and Robertson.

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