Sarah Ahmed – The Wine Detective

Success, followed by scandal, all very red top.  Last month I received an email from Stellenbosch winery, Kleine Zalze, notifying me that they’d taken top honours in South Africa’s WINE magazine’s 2010 Guala Closures Chenin Blanc Challenge:

• Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection 2008 won the award for Best Overall Chenin Blanc.
• Kleine Zalze Cellar Selection Bush Vines 2009 took the award for Best Value Chenin Blanc.

You can find the full results here, and you’ll see that Simonsig 2007 took the award for Best Unwooded Chenin Blanc.

WINE magazine introduced the challenge in 1995 to help champion more sophisticated styles of this great, but all too often overlooked variety.  Previous winners include Chenin maestros Teddy Hall (who makes De Morgenzon, currently on deal at Majestic), Ken Forrester and Jean Daneel.

So far, so good.  But before the samples arrived, a scandal erupted about Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection 2008, which you can read about here, on Jancis Robinson’s site.  As you’ll see, this particular rain-interrupted vintage was picked in different stages, which ended up being bottled in three different wines under the same label.  It probably explains why I was only sent the 2009 Bush Vine Chenin Blanc….To add to the confusion, because Kleine Zalze label this wine differently for the UK market’s ontrade (restaurants) and offtrade (retailers), I cannot say hand on heart whether the 2009 Bush Vine Chenin I’ve tasted is the same wine that won the Best Value Chenin Blanc award.  And while confusion reigns, I notice that the wine includes 30% of trellised vineyard fruit (not the advertised bush vines).

But putting a stop to this, I’m going to write up the wine I received on its own merits.  Kleine Zalze Chenins have been consistently good, even making an impression on my fellow French judges at the Rendez Vous de Chenin Blanc in the Loire in 2004 and 2006.  I hope, and I’m sure, lessons will have been learned from this debacle.  Wine labelling is confusing enough!

Kleine Zalze Zalze Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2009 – a honeyed nose and palate with ripe passionfruit and juicy, slightly sour pineapple (good, because it balances the sweetness).  A well made fruit-driven wine with enough oomph and edge to marry well with spicy food – South African style Cape Malay or Asian.  £6.49 from Waitrose.