WINE OF THE WEEK: Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2024, Stellenbosch, South Africa

£13.99–£17.99, Amps, Roberts & Speight, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Vinvm, winedirect UK, The Dorset Wine Company, Hay Wines, Simply Wines Direct, Just in Cases

This is the second Chenin Blanc to be a Wine of the Week this year, but it could hardly be more different stylistically or in origin from the earlier French wine, Spring Vouvray (despite the latter having a Cape connection).

South Africa's Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2024 is a rich and vibrant barrel-fermented white with nuanced toast and vanilla from the oak underscoring ripe, sweet citrus fruit, mouthwatering acidity and touches of quince and apricot. The overall impression is of a refreshingly dry wine, but not bone-dry.

The grapes are from bush vines with an average age of 35 years in Certified Heritage Vineyards in Stellenbosch, mostly on decomposed granite, and they’re hand-picked early in the morning when temperatures are lower.

Once in the winery, there's 24 hours’ skin-contact, then only the free-run juice is used and is fermented mostly in barrels (not new), with 5 per cent of the final blend from components fermented in concrete egg and terracotta amphora. After fermentation, there’s a further 7 months’ ageing on primary lees.

The winemaker is Hanri Ferreira, so, if you’re celebrating International Women's Day on Sunday, this is a wine with which you could mark it appropriately.

And you could accompany it with seafood, especially prawns and fish pie, pork belly, including with ginger and other Asian spices and sweet potato or peaches, creamy pasta dishes, macaroni cheese, butternut squash gratin, a rich onion tart, or chicken in cream sauces. 13.5%. Empty bottle weight: 653g.

Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2024, Stellenbosch, South Africa

£13.99–£17.99, Amps; £14.99, Roberts & Speight; £16, Cambridge Wine Merchants; £16.05, Vinvm; £16.05, winedirect UK; £17.95, The Dorset Wine Company; £17.99, Hay Wines; £83.94 for 6, Simply Wines Direct; £93.90 for 6, Just in Cases

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