South Africa Spotlight Tasting Kit

Restrained on the nose, with a subtle aromatic of baked apple, dried Mediterranean herbs, chamomile flower and hay, this is generous and open on the palate, with a loose-knit, mouth-filling texture. Sunshine-infused ripe yellow apple and quince fruit has a salty undertow and there is a silky, orange-oil feel. It's long, saline and really delicious, with a refreshing, lip-smacking finish. The second vintage of Adi Badenhorst’s multi-vineyard chenin blanc comprising fruit from seven different single sites, four on the home farm (Kalmoesfontein) and three on the more recently acquired (in 2021) Jakkalsfontein. All the sites are granitic but Kalmoesfontein’s lighter granite dries out more quickly, while Jakkalsfontein’s granite is ‘wetter’ and yields more primary, rounded, ripe fruit. Restrained on the nose, with a subtle aromatic of baked apple, dried Mediterranean herbs, chamomile flower and hay, this is generous and open on the palate, with a loose-knit, mouth-filling texture. Sunshine-infused ripe yellow apple and quince fruit has a salty undertow and there is a silky, orange-oil feel. This is long, saline and really delicious, with a refreshing, lip-smacking finish.

Ginny Poval’s Botanica wines are among the Cape’s most exciting. This elegantly honed chenin is from a cool, high-altitude vineyard planted in 1957 in the Citrusdal Mountain district, now known as Skurfberg. The elevation of the site brings freshness to its full, textured palate, which is intense and complex with flavours of apple, peach and fynbos, and a savoury edge. This can be a little shy at first so is worth decanting to show its full potential.

From the second oldest chenin blanc vineyard in South Africa (after Eben Sadie’s ‘Mev Kirsten’ vineyard), planted as its name indicates in 1947, this is always a rich and intense chenin with significant depth. Established by the great grandfather of Danie Steytler Junior (current custodian at Kaapzicht), four generations of the Steytler family have tended this plot in the Bottelary Hills for almost eight decades now; what started as six hectares is today just a little over one hectare. With flavours of ripe apricot and golden apple, this has a creamy lemon-curd-like texture and orange pith on the finish. Opulent but finely balanced, with the inherent equilibrium great old vineyards seem to achieve, this is a treat to drink now with a little bottle age, as beeswax and wild-honey complexity starts to emerge.

From the Mullineux home farm – Roundstone – the chenin blanc that grows on the schist here has smaller bunches and smaller berries than its Granite and Iron counterparts, and a more golden colour to the grapes on ripening. The 2023 is incredibly expressive and open, exuding dried-herb and honeysuckle perfume, yellow peach and orange citrus, and hay. This is such a characterful Schist, brimming with detail and salty minerality, and occupying a space between Granite and Iron – in terms of balancing verticality and linear tension with breadth. As is so often the case, it is the earliest approachable of the trio of chenins this vintage.

The brilliantly named 'Revenge of the Crayfish' is Sakkie Mouton's flagship white wine from the rarely seen Koenekaap region, right up on the West Coast (or 'Weskus') which Sakkie calls home. Just 5km from the cold Atlantic Ocean, approximately four hours' drive north of Cape Town, this is clearly influenced by its coastal locale with a distinctive salinity running through its core. There is an aniseed, spicy herbal character and lots of intense citrus on the palate – orange zest and pith – and gently gripping tannin (Sakkie loves the structure that the old-school basket press brings). This is a singular chenin, long and resonant - the kind of wine you want to spend a lot of time with, explaining why it has risen to cult status in just a few short years!

This super-salty, riveting chenin comes from a single vineyard planted in 1978 on Sinai Hill on the slopes of the Helderberg, facing the bracing and briny False Bay - just a few metres away from where Chris Alheit sources the chenin for his Nautical Dawn. With aromas and flavours of spring blossom, fynbos, and conference pear, and a brilliant acidity, this reverberates with energy and luminous citrus fruit. One for the chenin purists who favour racy, tense styles over opulent oaky expressions.