BLOUPUNT ESTATE

In South Africa there is a favorite expression that is used only if you are quite sure that your opponent will not be able to meet the challenge: "If you can do that, I’ll buy you a farm in West Street."

Retired bank manager Phillip Hoffman took the challenge literally, and bought himself a farm in historic Long Street in the quaint village of Montagu some 120 miles from Cape Town. He and his wife Dixie planned to spend a carefree retirement there, but soon their love for fine wines made them look at the small vineyard on the property with renewed interest.

Until 1996, the harvest was sold to the cooperative cellar in the village, but the quality of the Chardonnay grapes was so good that the Hoffmans were convinced it could produce top-quality wines.

Easy retirement soon gave way to hard work. They persuaded their son Paul to join them as winemaker, and built a wine cellar for their maiden 1997 vintage. It was named Bloupunt (meaning Blue Point) after the mountain peak that towers over the village.

Mountains on the way to Bloupunt

Equipping the small cellar was a challenge in itself. They needed 8,000-liter stainless steel tanks, and the smallest available on the market was a large 100,000 liters. A local supplier of equipment for the wine industry eventually made some tanks specially to their specifications.

In 1997, the Hoffmans vinified around 2,000 cases of wooded and unwooded Chardonnay. The cellar has the capacity to handle 4,000 cases, and they are planning to plant an additional 3 hectares of vines to increase production.

The small vineyard is tended by hand, and the grapes are hand-picked when ready. A basket press is used to crush the grapes very lightly – almost free-flow.

The decision to make both a wooded and an unwooded Chardonnay was based on their own taste preferences and those of their customers. The wines were bottled at the cellar by a mobile bottling unit, which travels from cellar to cellar. The blue-and-white labels on the bottles evoke the white-washed walls of the winery and the blue mountain rising over it.

Both Bloupunt Chardonnays are elegant and stylish with the citrus flavor typical of the grape. The wines are big and full with around 13.5% alcohol. Both have already done well at local wine shows: the wooded Chardonnay won Double Gold at the Southern Cape Wine Show, with Silver for the unwooded. Both wines were awarded Silver at the Veritas Wine Show – an excellent achievement for a maiden vintage.

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