Newcomers make some good progress at chenin challenge

In the days of the now defunct print version of Wine Magazine, the publication ran monthly competitions designed to identify the top producers of particular varieties or categories of wine.

It was WineMag that gave the chenin challenge its initial momentum, more than two decades ago, and at a time when the cultivar did not even enjoy premium status.

It was also at much the same time that Absa began sponsoring the pinotage top 10 — an annual competition that has continued to this day.

A glance at this year's winners of the Absa event, which include Delheim Pinotage 2012, Diemersfontein Carpe Diem Reserve 2015, Flagstone Writer’s Block Single Vineyard 2015, Kanonkop 2012, Lanzerac Pionier 2014, Môreson MKM 2015, Neil Ellis Bottelary Hills 2015 and Stellenbosch Vineyards Bushvine Pinotage 2015 reveals a number of familiar names.

In the world of wine, this shouldn’t be any more surprising than discovering that Kenyans, for example, dominate the long-distance events at athletics meetings.

However, as critics of the pinotage competition have been swift to point out, it is the very fact that because there are few changes in the top 10 from one year to the next, the category as a whole has not evolved.

This is an interesting line of argument: is there a mass of uncelebrated talent out there that has been ignored by the competition’s judges, or are the panelists doing their best with what lands up on the tasting bench? I’ve been involved in enough wine judging to know that you can’t find diamonds if there aren’t any, but also that sometimes a gem doesn’t shine on the day and lands up falling through the sieve.

For me the obvious and most notable absence from the top 10 line-up was anything from the Beyerskloof cellar. The current releases are all very fine, with intriguing rather than simple sweet fruit their hallmark features. The 2015 Beyerskloof Pinotage Reserve is worthy of a place on that list, but perhaps it just wasn’t showing well when the judging took place: it’s what happens.

The results of the annual Chenin Blanc Challenge, sponsored since 2014 by Standard Bank, were released within a month of the pinotage party. It’s possible that the period of hiatus between one competition management team and the next has served the interests of SA’s chenin producers. Certainly, this year’s chenin top 10 saw a 10% increase in the number of entries and a real churn in terms of newcomers to the hallowed slots: five of this year’s top 10 laureates are there for the first time. All of the newcomers are credible enough, but it’s a surprise to discover that producers such as Spice Route, Cederberg and Nederburg haven’t been on the winners’ podium before.

The remainder of the line-up includes several longestablished chenin cellars: in addition to those there for the first time (Cederberg Private Cellar Five Generations 2015, Fleur du Cap Unfiltered 2016, Nederburg Heritage Heroes The Anchorman 2016, Spice Route 2016 and Windmeul Kelder Reserve 2016) the other top 10s are DeMorgenzon Reserve 2016, Perdeberg Winery The Dry Land Collection Courageous Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2016, Spier 21 Gables 2016, Stellenrust 52 Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2016 and, remarkably, the previous vintage Stellenrust 51 Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2015.

As with the pinotage results, you could equally ask about some notable absences in the chenin top ten: where are Ken Forrester’s wines, the Bellingham Bernard Series, the Kleine Zalzes, Beaumont, Uitkyk and Mulderbosch, not to mention a few of the more boutique producers — some of whom at least must have been included in the 136 submissions making up this year’s entry?

I guess the same answer applies — they didn’t show well on the day. However, given the wealth of chenin talent missing from the list of laureates, you can’t help but wonder.