Wine Region: Stellenbosch

(2025) The blend of this Stellenbosch red is 61% Shiraz, 20% Mourvèdre and 19% Grenache. While part of the blend was fermented in larger oak barrels, other components went through carbonic maceration, the technique common in Beaujolais, with the blend matured in barrel for 12 months. There's a suggestion on the back label that this can be lightly chilled, which gives a clue to the style. The nose is bright and buoyant, cherry and cassis, with a little background of both black peppercorns and chestnut. In the mouth the fruit is ripe and mouth-filling, but it has been salted and peppered, with some spices and a saline aspect to the acidity. It blends juiciness with freshness quite well, with enough grip and spice to give it a gastronomic edge. Watch the video for more information and food matching ideas.

(2025) This is a 'Pet Nat', bottled under a crown cap with 18 months on the lees, an 'ancestral method' wine that saw a single fermentation to create natural bubbles. Just off dry, it's a real charmer with just 10% alcohol, pretty and juicy fruit and a fine line of acidity to keep it fresh and appetising. Enjoyed this.

(2025) From a very old dry-farmed vineyard in Piekenierskloof, this is a multi-vintage blend (though Ken has now started a Solera for future editions) handled as gently as possible: natural yeasts, unfiltered, unfined, with only seven barrels produced. It has become one of my favourite wines in his portfolio, embodying all the best aspects of lightly earthy, kaolin clay-like natural wine with crystal clear fruit flavours and thrilling balance. Fabulous stuff.

(2025) Just bottled, so un-labelled and not released at time of tasting, this promises to be a cracking vintage of the always lovely FMC Chenin. It is now in the UK at around £40 per bottle. The creaminess of French oak, about 50% new, is apparent in a wine aged for a year in barrel on the lees. The fruit is pristine, already hinting at honey, with ripe and juicy yellow apple and a hint of apricot. One of the world's great Chenins.

(2025) A sister crown-capped pet nat, cloudier than the Chenin as it is not disgorged, and 100% Grenache with a light pink/copper colour. A much more lactic and sour take on the style, but still with the buoyant charm of red berries at the core and a gastronomic, lightly yeasty feel in the finish.

(2025) Always such a treat when Ken pulls out an aged version of this affordable wine, the surprise that comes with an 18-year-old wine tasting so brilliant, yet the current release can be had for £15. Drinking absolutely beautifully, I find this Riesling-like in many ways - not petrol, but waxy and with a touch of honey, the palate still fresh as a daisy and so well balanced. What a treat.

(2025) This is a brand new wine, a Palomino/Chenin field blend from a 1959 vineyard in Piekenierskloof that is also the source of the fruit for 'Dirty Little Secret". Ken explained that when the Chenin was first planted it was done with little expertise and soon some plants failed. Palomino was known to grow easily and reliably even in hot, dry climates, so all of the empty spaces in the vineyard were filled with the variety. A really beautiful wine, natural yeast fermented, with a citrus peel hint of extract and zestiness, a mouth-filling texture, a perfectly balanced finish with zippy, dry and mineral acidity.

(2024) Kleine Zalze is one of the bigger names in Stellenbosch, producing a whole range of Chenin Blanc wines, so if this is the one you want, check the label before buying. From 35-year-old bush vines in two vineyards, it had 24 hours skin contact then was pressed to a combination of older French oak barrels and terracotta amphora. The nose has plenty of ripe, vanilla-touched apple, but there's a stone-fruit, apricot and yellow plum deeper note too. In the mouth a generous texture has a bit of fat and weight giving good mouthfeel, the fruit stays this side of exotic, and the barrel adds nothing more than a whisper of creaminess. Quite long and rather satisfying Chenin. Watch my full video review for more details.

(2024) Matured on the lees for 30 months, this is 30% Pinot Noir, 70 % Chardonnay, disgorged March 2021. It has "a small amount of dosage," added. There's a richness and robust yeastiness on the nose, truffle and earthy aromas into orchard fruits. The palate has a creaminess to the mousse and flavours that are citrussy and direct, lemons and sharp English apples but the picture softened by the leesy, lightly nutty notes from the long lees ageing.

(2024) The Blend here is 35% Pinot Noir, 30% Chardonnay and 5% Pinot Meunier, plus 30% Pinotage. It's an 'assemblage' with 2% made as a Pinot Noir red wine. It was bottled in 2018 and disgorged in March 2021 with residual sugar of 9.2g/l. Nicely meaty and yeasty on the nose, there's an umami aspect to small red berries. In the mouth the mousse is quite luxurious. There's a crispness with the zippy citrus acid core here, but that redcurrant and cranberry fruit character and hints of spice and meatiness gives mouthfeel and richness.