Alex's Notes on Baleia
I have fairly recently discovered this producer, who are somewhat out on a limb being a 4.5 hour drive east of Cape Town. New discoveries are always so exciting, albeit this estate has already garnered quite a reputation in South Africa not only for their pioneering work in unearthing a new winegrowing area but also in particular for the outstanding quality and liveliness of their Chardonnay, as well as for their unique range of reds made from a smorgasbord of varieties: Syrah, Tempranillo, Pinot Noir, Grenache, Alicante, Cinsaut, Mourvèdre, and Touriga Nacional.
They are the first and only winery in the Lower Duivenhoks ward, a short journey inland from Witsand/St Sebastian Bay on the Cape South Coast, known as the "whale nursery of South Africa."
TL;DR
Owned by the Joubert family, self-confessed 'maverick' Jan-Hendrik Joubert established Baleia's first vineyards in 2009 after discovering this remote and rugged location and its unique limestone soils, laden with rich, salt deposits, boasting a very high mineral content.
Winemaking & Ethos
When I first tasted Baleia's wines, I felt I could tell that their winemaking was sensitive and minimal intervention, that they wanted above all to reflect their terroir (the land and the surrounding environment) and to let the vineyard character shine through. I was also struck by their freshness and vibrancy; they seemed to be reflective of a cooler climate than other parts of the Cape.
They subsequently told me this is absolutely their ethos, that their winemaking is "less about creation and more about guidance" and to highlight the "mineral and maritime character" of their fruit.
I see this very clearly in their Chardonnay, which is unencumbered by any obvious oak character and speaks of its coastal minerality and limestone soils by majoring on the resulting uplifting citrus acidity rather than trying to emulate the more common buttery, oak-influenced richness found in South African Chardonnays.
This is not to criticise richer, heavier Chardonnays, I love many of them too (if not overdone), but Baleia's makes for a refreshing change! And being a seafood lover, I could immediately tell this was a Chardonnay for seafood, with the required acidity to cut through oily fish. I have since learned that this wine is very popular with sommeliers for its food-matching affinity, and I'm not at all surprised.
While a lot of Chardonnay is both fermented and aged only in oak, Baleia ferment theirs in a combination of already used French oak barrels (to minimise any overt oak influence but to allow for micro-oxygenation to soften the wine) and in Amphorae, before then ageing the wine for a total of 11 months at a ratio of 50/50 in the older oak and Amphorae.
Amphorae (singular: amphora) - large clay pots - are said to help a wine retain energy and freshness, while they age the wine a little quicker compared with stainless steel and impart some mouth-coating texture to the wine.
This ensures the wine is elegant and refreshing yet with a generous mouthfeel, while staying true to the land on which it is grown.
Terroir
Deposits of pure, solid limestone, high in carbonates and thus pH, are rare in South Africa. These soils imbue the wines with chalky minerality and a maritime salinity, contributing mouthfeel, brightness, and mineral tension.
The area experiences cold winters and low rainfall, with relentless winds in the summer blowing in from the Indian Ocean. The vines struggle for survival - which is what you want if you want to make fine wines with real tension - and they yield a very limited crop of highly concentrated, thick-skinned grapes.
Sustainability
Baleia believes that "living soils = strong roots = healthy vines = perfectly ripened fruit."
Soil health is paramount and they make use of technology such as soil probes and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) scanning, a remote sensing technique that measures vegetation health and allows them to monitor vine stress and irrigation needs efficiently i.e. they can then only use water for irrigation when absolutely necessary.
Baleia's wines are world-class, and I'd say their Chardonnay competes with wines two to three times the price!
#WineObsessed
South Africa: Baleia Estate - Chardonnay 2022, Lower Duiwenshoks River, Western Cape
