Chenin champion 17 January 2008

Jean Daneel scores again in Chenin Blanc Challenge 2008

After thirteen years, Wine magazine’s annual Chenin Blanc Challenge has broadened the scope of the competition by creating category winners. This is in line with suggestions by the Chenin Blanc Association to distinguish between the different styles produced in the Cape. The overall top wine remains, of course, the highlight.

Winner of the 2008 competition is Jean Daneel Directors Signature 2006, a wooded expression of the grape, made by a man who is no stranger to high achievments with the variety (he's a previous winner of the Challenge, and his 2003 Signature chenin was the inaugural Platter's WIne of the Year), together with his son Jean-Pierre. It earned four-and-a-half stars in the judging – as did Bellingham The Maverick 2006 and Rudera Robusto 2005. Others in the six-strong final round, and rating four stars, were Kleine Zalze Barrel Fermented, Rudera Robusto, and Forrester Meinert FMC, all from 2006 .

Other categories assessed from 122 entries were for best wooded, best unwooded, and best value. The winemakers from Napier in the Overberg won, of course, in the wooded category, while Tukulu 2007, rated four stars, and made from unirrigated vines at Papkuilsfontein in Darling, won the unwooded section.

The consumer-friendly priced Slanghoek Private Selection 2007 was declared the best value chenin blanc. Rating three stars in the competition, it sells for a remarkably modest R16.70 at the cellar.

Ken Forrester, chair of the Chenin  Association, expressed enthusiasm for the extended Challenge and categories. The association plans an extensive awareness campaign – not only among consumers, but also growers.

• Full results of the competition and articles on the subject are available on Wine magazine's website