Wine of the Week 56: The Foundry Roussanne 2022

Chris Williams has long been interested in granite and its influence on wines. His winery, The Foundry, is in the Voor-Paardeberg, and with its proliferation of granite-based soils he draws comparison to the hill of Hermitage. Fittingly, his focus is on Rhône varieties.

Chris established The Foundry in 2001, the first vintage was made at Joostenberg, in an old farm workshop, which was dubbed ‘The Foundry’. While working as winemaker at Meerlust, he built The Foundry in parallel. After 16 successful years, he left in 2020 to focus fully on his own label, and later launched Geographica, a project dedicated to old vine sites in Stellenbosch.

Grown in granite

His passion for grapes grown on granite was ignited with a study trip to the Rhône while still at Elsenberg. In the group were Marc Kent (Boekenhoutskloof) and Eben Sadie, both of whom would go on to define South African syrah. “We were all blown away,” Chris says. “It was the first time we’d tasted proper syrah, fresh and perfumed, with bright, pure fruit and powdery tannins. Back home, shiraz was mostly high alcohol, low acid, with baked fruit. The contrast was stark. We had the granite soils and Mediterranean climate, but our viticulture and winemaking was behind the curve.

Chris says the first time he tasted roussanne was also while visiting the region. “It was unlike anything I had experienced before, being unctuous and rich while at the same time possessing a vivacity and focus that made the wine come alive on the palate.”

He believes the variety is exceptionally well-suited to the Western Cape: “It handles our warmer conditions with ease, retains freshness, and really thrives in our granite-derived soils.”

The Foundry Roussanne 2022

Hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed, from two rare Paardeberg sites. White pear, and wildflowers. Ocean spray. Beeswax and crystallised honey. The palate is latticed and over-lapping, ribbons of textural citrus fruit, burnished with a granitic freshness. The finish slides in savoury and long, with a gentle phenolic grip.
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