Chenin Blanc is said to be the most widely planted grape in South Africa, and after taking a sip of a bottle like Tania et Vincent Careme's Terre Brulee Le Blanc you'll understand why.
This one comes loaded with tart fruit and a bitterness that is balanced quite well.
We're quickly becoming fans of Chardonnay from South Africa, and when we purchased an assortment of bottles from a local wine shop, we were intrigued by the offerings from Richard Kershaw Winery.
Part of this is simply because we like this varietal from the country. But the other part was that Kershaw focuses on single clonal grapes in isolated growing regions similar to what one of our favorite US-based wineries, Boundary Breaks, does for Riesling. So we picked up a bottle of the GPS Series from the Lower Duivenhoks River and paired it with a lovely sous vide salmon dinner.
Every so often we have a wine that we fall in love with at first sip. The South African-based Ataraxia (in Hemel-in-Aarde) offers a Chardonnay that, for us at least, won us over right away.
If an intensely acidic and fruity Chardonnay is what you see, Ataraxia's entry will certainly deliver.