Newsletter July 2010

All things new and beautiful!

It is with pride that we announce a new face at Cronier Wines.  The well travelled Suzanne Coetzee joined our team in June 2010.  She will be the contact person in charge of operations with an extra grip on marketing and sales with Johan.  She brings with her vast experience on both technical aspects as well as commercial aspects.  Being a qualified winemaker, her career started winemaking in cellars like Boekenhoutskloof and Vriesenhof, where you could find her on a tank with dirty hands, baggy clothes and gumboots.  She swopped the dirty hands for lecturing at the well-known Elsenburg college, and when Boland Cellar knocked on her door she waved the first year students goodbye.  At Boland, she was part of a team of winemakers and marketers and worked hard to obtain the wine styles suitable for market and grow sales in existing and new markets.

We are also proud to announce that for the first time Cronier has released a limited Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz/Viognier.  Viognier as a varietal can be a slightly more masculine white wine with typical floral notes and a distinct perfumey character.  When using Viognier in a red blend, the aim is not to give the blend a typical Viognier flavour.  Rather, the aim is to add just enough Viognier to make the initial blend better while not picking up the Viognier character in the blend.  Viognier increases the fruit and complexity of Cronier Cabernet Shiraz Viognier while achieving a soft, round finish.  We know this wine will not disappoint.

We have also bottled our first 2010 white wine, Chenin blanc.  It shows exceptional fruit with notes of baked pear and has a lovely, crisp acidity.  Be sure to get your hands on a bottle soon, in fact, you better make that two!

As the Soccer World Cup is finishing up, we are also eager to see the business world back in action again.  We are working on a very exciting new concept aimed for grocers… but this is still a secret.  We hope to make it public in our August newsletter.  All I can tell you for now, is that we believe in the goodness nature has to offer.

Until next time...  Live, laugh and drink plenty wine!

The Cronier Team!