Tim James: Five summer white wines under R170 – how do they stack up?

Summer is more or less here in Cape Town, with occasional backward glances to winter, and I believe that it’s been resident in Johannesburg, for example, for some time already. So it seemed opportune to test drive a handful of whites that sell for less than the wines generally reviewed on this website. Incidentally, I researched that last claim, and found that Christian Eedes reviewed 42 white wines in the last month (since 9 September; my, how that boy works!). Their mean average price per bottle is R421.47. My five, a pretty random selection, mostly from the shelves of my excellent local retailer, Constantia Wine and Craft, range between R100 and R170: three blends, one chenin and one chard.

Another incidental that occurs to me having mentioned blends: it’s not unamazing to think that the Cape’s first serious white blend based on warm-country grapes was Sadie Palladius 2001. Now it’s become one of the most prestigious and intersting categories of South African wine – I didn’t check how many of Christian’s reviews this past month were of such blends, and I’m damned if I’m going to search again, but there were certainly quite a few.

It does seem likely to me that many of the readers of this website are interested in good wines costing much less than R421.47, but my motives in going and spending my hard-earned money on these ones were not entirely journalistic, let alone altruistic – I intended to drink them all, ideally wth some satisfaction, and hoped to find one or two that I will buy again (so much more hope with them being white than if they were reds at that sort of price), as I certainly can’t drink nicely matured bottles of Skerpioen and Raats Eden Chenin every summer night. And if any readers feel like making other appropriate suggestions of good value in this price range, please do – I wish we had a readers’ forum on the site, but the comments space can fulfil some of that function.

I’ll start at the least expensive end, with Stellenrust Chenin Blanc 2025 at R100. I don’t think it’s possible to go wrong with any chenin from the Stellenrust team – maybe with any of their wines. This is ripe and fruity but fresh and deftly done, simple and tasty; not the least bit challenging but also not at all with a sense of being dumbed down.

Unoaked chardonnay is a favourite category of mine for modestly priced white with a bit of class. Glenelly’s is my standard, but the Chamonix 2024 at R125 (from bought-in Stellenbosch grapes) is that bit cheaper and also good. Unassertive at 13% alc but wth subtle varietal aroma and flavour a real presence. I’d choose this for a return buy over the Stellenzicht in most situations, especially with food, simply because its less obviously flavourful-fruity and that suits my taste.

Eeenzaamheid Vin Blanc 2024 (R156) is one of the many descendants of Palladius, as an Agter-Paarl chenin-based blend with grenache blanc and a good dollop of viognier. I confess I didn’t enjoy this as much as I was expecting to. I’ve always liked Eeenzaamheid, though it’s been a while since I’ve had one. Plenty of ripe flavour here, everything pretty forward, everything decently balanced and dry, but there was something like a forceful coarseness to the wine – I wonder if it was a clumsy acidity. I did drink it all, without really grumbling, but would hesitate before buying it again. If others have had better experiences, I’d be pleased.

Alvi’s Drift CVC Reserve 2022, WO Scherpenheuwel in the Breede River Valley, was R165 from Pick’n’Pay. It’s screwcapped like the previous three, but the superior screwcap with a hidden thread that is just so much more attractive. Another Cape Blend, two-thirds chenin with equal viognier and chardonnay, really well calculated and executed to appeal widely. The extra years in bottle (compared with the Eenzaamheid, for example) have been really useful in integrating and softening the wine. There’s lots of flavour, but not too much, it’s ripe and rich, but not too much. There’s a grandeur, even, that’s beyond its price level – I think it very good value for money. If it had a few grams less sugar in the otherwise appealing balance, I might buy it again, but that 4.5 g/l is pretty obvious, and the overall showiness, however well done, just doesn’t appeal to me. It’s won a whole host of competition awards (rather dubious, most of them, in my opinion), which doesn’t surprise me. It’s really very good wine for the price, but….

My final wine, Cape Rock Wines’ Asylum 2021, was (just) the most expensive of my handful, at R170. And my favourite – though I confess I had it with friends over an abalone lunch at Perlemoen Restaurant, close to the sea in the Hermanus Old Harbour, and that was bound to help. But I have always enjoyed the characterful, interesting and balanced wines from the modest, low-interventionist little cellar in Vredendal. This WO W Cape wine doesn’t declare its Olifants River origins or its constituents: grenache blanc, with 25% marsanne, and bits of viognier and roussanne. Again, there’s the benefit of a few years in bottle; it’s bone dry, fresh, unpretentious, subtly flavoursome, at 13% alc (same as the Chamonix; the others here all declare 13.5%; and this is the only one with a cork – a composite “technical” one). And I love what the producer’s spec sheet says: “The blend aims to explore our idea of what simple table wine making was and what it should be today to reflect the terroir of the Olifants River region in a dry white wine made with minimal intervention.” Viva all of that!

• Tim James is one of South Africa’s leading wine commentators, contributing to various local and international wine publications. His book Wines of South Africa – Tradition and Revolution appeared in 2013.