Thursday night’s terroir tasting of Breedekloof Wines demonstrated the versatility of Chnein Blanc, the workhorse cultivar for the appellation. From fresh and fruity value for money stunnas from Botha Cellar and Goudini to seriously wooded numbers like the serpent from the Garden of Eden below, Chenin is more versatile than Pieter-Dirk Uys, the darling of Darling.

So its quite appropriate that our reprocessing of the value proposition from last year’s Best Value Guide has a Breedekloof wine in poll position and a Darling wine as runner up. They are listed below against average scores and recommended retail prices. Where was Alvi on Thursday night?

Alvi’s Drift Chenin Blanc 2012 15.20 R38.00
Alexanderfontein Chenin Blanc 2012 15.10 R32.00
Backsberg Chenin Blanc 2013 15.10 R33.00
Blaauwklippen Cultivar Selection Chenin Blanc 2013 15.00 R32.00
Perdeberg Chenin Blanc 2013 14.70 R24.99

Comparing Chenin to Sauvignon entries to the BVG, a couple of observations speak volumes:

57 Sauvignons were submitted versus 35 Chenins;

The average blind judging scores are almost exactly the same: 14.77 v. 14.78 out of 20;

Chenin is 20% cheaper with an average price of R39 versus R47 for the same quality;

The bvg panel scores correlate with price at a remarkable 0.4 versus 0.19 for Sauvignon, which means that when it comes to bang for buck, Chenin way outperforms Shrek.