February 2002 Buying Guide: Chenin Blanc Challenge
There wasn't a single clearcut winner of the WINE Magazine/ABSA Personal Financial Services Chenin Blanc Challenge 2002. After due deliberation and discussion, the judges declared it a draw. Panel chairman Michael Fridjhon reports.
The tasting for this year's Chenin Blanc WINE Challenge turned out to be less predictable and more intriguing than in any of the previous years. Several of the judges have been panellists at three or more of the annual events. All have been members of wine juries whose function is to identify an outright category winner. Still, several rounds into the exercise - which saw a screening panel from the Chenin Blanc Association chaired by Jeff Grier CWM (Villiera) thin-out the 92 entries to 47 samples - not only could the group not agree on the winning wine: different scoring methodologies could not separate the two wines ranked at the top of the table.
Partly this result reflects the different aesthetic priorities of the judges: Richard Kelley MW, Tim James CWM and Christine Rudman CWM evinced a clear preference for less visible oaking - irrespective of fruit weight. However, both Dave Hughes and panel chairman Michael Fridjhon were unfazed by wood in the presence of concentrated grape flavours. With one of the two top wines lighter and more elegant and the other richer, denser and more obviously oaked, the scene was set for an irreconcilable deadlock.
The two wines had tied on ranking. An attempt to re-judge the finalists using a 100 point system separated the wines by a mere one point over a possible 500 (430 and 429). The 429 point wine however had garnered more number one votes, suggesting most of the panel regarded it as best. Fresh pours from fresh bottles failed to break the logjam: in the end, there was no alternative but to acknowledge that - for the first time in the history of the Challenge - it was impossible to identify a winning wine, only a winning duo.
Both wines had been produced by past winners, both had come from cellars which have focused on niche volumes of the increasingly fashionable varietal. One of the producers could boast an unimpeachable track record in making everything from dry Chenins to opulent dessert wines; the other had three different cuvées of oaked Chenins in the line-up of six finalists and had secured the Diners Club award for an unwooded wine.
The presence of De Trafford's David Trafford and Kanu's Teddy Hall on the winners' podium is as much a tribute to their dedication to South Africa's most prolific varietal as it is to their winemaking skills. Long before the Chenin renaissance had caught the imagination of their colleagues they had identified individual sites capable of producing the kind of world-class wines the Challenge seeks to reward. Cape Chenin Blanc is better than ever before, with a higher concentration of quality wines than at any time in this country's history. Four-star wines are not uncommon, while the 30-plus three-star-and-more entries in this year's Challenge offer testimony to the improvement in standards.
Christine Rudman summed up the panel's overall level of satisfaction when she said that there were many wines which would now compete with the country's best Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs. Tim James agreed, though he cautioned against overwooding a varietal in less need of oak than Chardonnay, a view in part borne out by the increasing number of unwooded Chenins scoring at least three stars. Of the 47 wines in the final judging almost all were well made, most had ample fruit, length on the palate and the promise of complexity with a little bottle age.
The bulk of the entries are still less than a year old at the time of the judging. Hall's winning wine had the advantage of extra maturation - it was one of eight samples from the 2000 vintage in the final. Last year it finished fourth overall - then, the same wine was scored just a half a point lower by each of the three judges who were on this year's panel (Fridjhon, Hughes and Kelley). Clearly it needed a little extra time to persuade the other panellists. Too few of the Cape's cellars are prepared to give their Chenin Blancs that extra time in bottle and as a result sacrifice the prospect of extra complexity in favour of cashflow. The sadness here is that Chenin, unlike most other whites, profits enormously from extra bottle maturation.
Its higher acidity serves to preserve the fruit while the natural nobility of the varietal expresses itself through secondary and even tertiary flavours that develop over time. This is where wood-ageing has a role to play, as long as the extra oxidation from the barrels is not achieved at the expense of purity of flavour. When the wines are young it is sometimes difficult to determine whether the fruit will survive the layerings of butterscotch and charred vanilla imposed by the oak.
This in the end was the debate which engaged the attention of the panel - and there is no obvious point in time for it to be resolved. Undoubtedly the Kanu 2000 will transform over the next few years - whether at its peak it will be better than, or simply different from the De Trafford Keermont 2001 remains to be seen. What is not in dispute however is the spectacular quality of both wines, as well as the achievement of the Cape wine industry in raising its sometime Cinderella varietal to such heights.
CHENIN BLANC CHALLENGE WINNERS
4½ stars
De Trafford Keermont 2001 APPROX RETAIL PRICE: R50.00 Straw green hue. Distinctive, funky Loire-style nose with a local De Trafford twist: characteristic fynbos with lemon, lime, quince and nutty whiffs. Huge, concentrated, classy palate with discreetly hidden wood. A finely handled wine with plenty of development - possibly best in 2 to 5 years.
Wooded Kanu Limited Release Wooded 2000 CELLAR PRICE: R52.00 Pale gold, tinge of green. Bright nose with distinct citrus, lime and toast. Serious oak. Rich, full bodied palate; great fruit/acid balance. Polished, complex and showy from last year's Chenin Challenge winner. There's still plenty of development to come. Ideally, drink in 2 to 3 years. (Fourth in 2001 Challenge)
OTHER TOP CHENIN BLANC REVIEWS
4 stars
Wooded Lammershoek Barrique 2000 CELLAR PRICE: R27.20 A sterling performance from this new Swartland winery. Caramel and baked apple nose following onto Loire-like, quince flavours. Very rich with attractive complex fruit and a hint of oak give a certain grandeur. Classy and elegant with lovely taut acidity. Drink in 3 to 4 years with food.
Hazendal Wooded 2000 CELLAR PRICE: R28.83 Polished green and yellow hue. Ripe, warm, mature nose showing citric and toasty, nutty esters. Fruity palate offers peach, controversial oak (a bit overwhelming, some thought) and matchbox character. Pleasantly complex; lovely taut acidity on the finish. Drink in 2 to 3 years.
Kanu Limited Release Wooded 2001 CELLAR PRICE: R52.00 Another bright, dense wine. Nose showing lime and toast on smoky vanilla and tropical notes. A showy wine with lots of wood. Rich and full-bodied palate with delicate flavours of tropical fruit. A hint of sweetness which balances well with zesty acid and not over manipulated. Polished, clean and fresh. Drink in 2 to 3 years.
Robusto 2001 KANU CELLAR PRICE: R64.00 Pale with green tinge. Complex bouquet: sherbet, chalk, lemon peel, lime, toast with herbaceous hints. Individualistic wine from Kanu's Teddy Hall: controversially high sugar which some thought was sufficiently supportive and integrated on an intense, full, rich palate with sawdust, toasty lemon and loads of fruit. Likely to be a good developer; drink in 3 to 4 years.
3½ stars Wooded Ken Forrester 2000 APPROX RETAIL PRICE: R28.00 Bright colour with distinct green tints. Although still a bit shy, the nose offers honey, caramel, lime and apricot whiffs; bit of bottle age showing. Good acidity and fruit on the palate. "Interesting", with 2 to 4 years of development.
Rijk's 2000 CELLAR PRICE: R34.00 Pale, luminous gold and green. Nose is still a little shy but showing some good, ripe fruit, lemon peel, buttered toast and a hint of botrytis following onto a sweet, full, woody palate. Rich. A full-bodied, intense food wine with 2 to 3 years of life.
Mulderbosch Steen-op-Hout 2001 CELLAR PRICE: R38.00 Deep green-yellow. An elegantly austere wine. Broad nose with tropical fruit and buttered toast. A leaner, drier style than some of its contemporaries; zesty palate with focused acidity. Hints of tertiary development and more to come - 2 to 4 years.
Robusto 2000 KANU CELLAR PRICE: R80.00 Polished, pale green. Slightly cheesy nose with lemon peel, toast and a lively lime juice quality which follows through to the palate. Good, ripe, tropical fruit on the mouth. Amongst the top eight in last year's competition. Will go very well with food over the next 18 months.
Unwooded Simonsig 1997 CELLAR PRICE: R18.00 Clear and pale, green hue. Gorgeous fresh, ripe guava, fruit salad, herbs and tropical nose. Distinct cool fermentation character. Big mouth with loads of fruit and the taste of pear drops and lemon peel. Good balance. Drink within a year.
Blue White 1998 APPROX RETAIL PRICE: R25.00 Deep gold and green colour. Very attractive, maturing nose with ripeness and honey (suggesting botrytis) on asparagus and herbaceous notes. Bottle-age fleshing out its character. Taut structure: rich, zesty and oily. Still has a good 2 to 4 years to go but interesting drinking now.
Kanu 2001 CELLAR PRICE: R25.00 The Diners Club 2001 winner. Clean and pale. Sweet nose with ripe tropical fruit, a touch of honey and fresh sherbet. Sweetness follows onto a sweet palate where layers of flavour await one. Shows its variety well. Drink now.
CHENIN BLANC RATINGS
3 stars
Helderberg Barrel Fermented 2001 R13.50 Rylands Grove 2001 (Int Wine Services; Welmoed) R14.50 Fort Simon Barrel Fermented 2001 R23.50 Jordan Barrel Fermented 2001 R27.00 Morgenhof 2001 R28.00 Hazendal Wooded 2000 R28.83 Kleine Zalze Barrel Fermented 2000 R29.00 Old Vines Barrel Reserve 1998 (approx retail price) R36.50 Avontuur Barrel Select 2001 R38.00 Jean Daneel 2001 R40.54 Beaumont Hope Marguerite 1999 R50.00 De Trafford 2001 R50.00 Rudera 2001 R64.00 Unwooded Viljoensdrift River Grandeur 2001 R18.00 Laibach 2001 R20.00 Seidelberg 2001 R20.00 Raats Original 2001 (Delaire) R28.00 L’Avenir 2001 R35.00
2½ stars
Post House 2001 R30.00 Spice Route 2001 (Charles Back) R35.00 Unwooded Brandvlei 2001 R8.75 Boland 2001 R11.50 Simonsig 2001 R18.00 Kleine Hazen Bush Vine 2001 (Hazendal) R19.00 Groote Post 2001 R19.50 Indaba 2001 (Kanu) R23.00 Cederberg 2001 R23.50 Boschendal 2001 R24.35
2 stars
Wooded Cederberg Barrel Fermented 2001 R23.50 Villiera Cellar Door 2001 R39.00 Unwooded Amasimi 2001 (Ashwood) (approx retail price) R12.00 Swartland Indalo 2001 R20.00 Kleine Zalze Bush Vines 2001 R22.00 Cloof 2001 (Groene Cloof) R26.00
WINE Tasters: 92 wines were tasted in the elimination round by a screening panel including producers Jeff Grier CWM (Villiera) as chairperson, Irina von Holdt CWM (Old Vines), Teddy Hall (Kanu, Rodera, Robusto) and Martin Meinert (Meinert Wines), Richard Kelley MW (UK). The final tasting included 47 wines - all ranked above according to quality rating and in order of highest to lowest price - tasted by chairperson Michael Fridjhon, honorary member of the Institute of Cape Wine Masters Dave Hughes, Cape Wine Masters Christine Rudman and Tim James, Richard Kelley MW (UK).
Entry requirements: Entries may be 100% Chenin Blanc - or combinations of different varieties, provided the Chenin Blanc component makes up at least 85% of the blend. The residual sugar level of the wines may not exceed 20g per litre. Wines must be market ready and available at the time the results are published in the February 2002 edition of WINE magazine.
Prices: All ex-cellar unless otherwise stipulated.
Procedures: Tasting done "blind". Wines poured at 14°. The 20-point scoring system was used: 5 Star = 18 or more out of 20; 4 Star = 16 or 17; 3 Star = 15; 2 Star = 14; 1 Star = 13; No Star = less than 13. Star ratings awarded on the basis of discussion and consensus. Wine identities not revealed to panellists until publication of the assessments.
