A really decadent wine this, loaded with rich floral characters and plenty of tropical fruit like lychee, white melon and apricot. There are lifted notes of honeysuckle and jasmine, and these really combine beautifully with the ripe fruit to deliver a round, full-bodied wine that has both richness and power. There's a little splash of Viognier blended in with the Chardonnay, and this no doubt is the origin of those apricot-like fruit characters, and it's a brilliant blend.

If you’re looking to explore the more illustrious side of the South African wine industry, then De Grendel wines are the perfect place to start. Established in 1999 by the late Sir David Graaf, De Grendel is a winery built on an estate owned by the Baronets of the Hex Valley River, a family which helped establish South Africa’s agricultural industry back in the early 19th century. While the wine estate and the Graaf family, in general, have dropped their Victorian airs and graces, they remain dedicated to championing the superb produce of South Africa and exploring the potentials of the wonderful terroir they have access to. The winemakers at De Grendel spent time travelling the great wine regions of the New and Old Worlds, discovering what makes them tick, and exploring which tips and tricks they can borrow from everywhere from Bordeaux to Sonoma to bring back to the Cape. The conclusion reached was that the De Grendel vineyards which overlook vistas of Table Mountain are almost uniquely ideal for viticulture; here, brisk Antarctic winds cool the fruit through the nights, and the blazing African sun allows them to ripen during the long days. The result is a portfolio of truly stunning wines which simply couldn’t be produced in the same way anywhere else on earth. These are treasures from the Cape, packed full of the pioneering character and vision of the Graaf family.