Nieuwe Haarlem Chenin Blanc 2023

There’s a lovely push and pull here. Ripe orchard fruit brushing up against something more savoury and mineral. Think quince, baked apple, maybe a touch of lemon curd, but kept in check by a taut, almost saline line. There’s texture too - Chenin’s hallmark, aided by a touch of oak - giving it that waxy, lanolin feel, before a finish that snaps back into freshness. Generous but never lazy. Perfect for a variety of seafood with light, butter sauces or energetic enough to keep up with bold Asian cuisine.

This wine is produced by the Cape Wine Company. A small, family-run business founded in 2010 by winemaker and entrepreneur Erlank Erasmus, after a decade at Fairview and international harvests in Napa and Saint Émilion. He now runs the project with his wife Anna-Mart in the Cape Winelands, focusing on terroir-driven, minimal-intervention wines (plus spirits and some non-alcoholic products).

Like fine wine, a story is sometimes simply too good not to share. Surrounded with historical gravitas and adventure, one such story is the Nieuwe Haarlem:

De Nieuwe Haarlem embodies perseverance and adventure. A ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), it sailed between continents in the 17th century, carrying officials from Amsterdam to overseas colonies. After running aground near Table Bay in 1647, its crew survived by growing vegetables, trading with locals, and planting some of the Cape’s first vines. Their resourcefulness inspired Jan van Riebeeck’s establishment of a formal halfway station in 1652, shaping the Cape’s role on the Spice Route and marking the early foundations of South Africa’s wine industry.