Eight Gates Chenin Blanc 2024 Tulbagh, Western Cape, South Africa 75cl

Eight Gates began with a friendship. Carlo Suter and Kolja Sturmer met as schoolboys in Cape Town in 1990, then spent decades apart building careers in winemaking and finance before launching their own label in 2023. The name comes from a book on the eight gates of wisdom, and the wines are aged in oak the pair source themselves from a small Italian cooperage in the Dolomites.

This Chenin Blanc grows on a south east facing plot of barely two hectares, planted in the early 1980s on very stony ground at the foot of the Saronsberg outside Tulbagh. The crop is minute, hand picked over a couple of days in late summer, whole bunch pressed and fermented by wild yeast in barrel. It is the sort of old vine site that rewards patience rather than chasing volume.

The 2024 season in the Western Cape was one of contrasts. A wet, cool start gave way to a warm, dry and windy summer that kept disease at bay and brought an early harvest. Growers widely called it a quality over quantity year, and cooler leaning white sites like this one held their freshness while ripening cleanly.

Expect a nose of vanilla, citrus and peach lifted by a gentle waxy, hay like note from time in wood. The palate is rich and textured, built on ten months in new 300 and 500 litre barrels, yet kept honest by fresh acidity that carries the finish long and dry. Serve it lightly chilled, and it will happily sit a few years in the cellar. It suits roast chicken or a creamy fish dish.

Christian Eedes at Winemag scored it 91 points, calling it an archetypal old vine expression. If you enjoy the weightier, barrel shaped side of South African Chenin, in the mould of the country’s benchmark examples, this belongs in that conversation. It is a white for a considered dinner rather than a casual glass, and it wears its quality without fuss.