When Christoph Dehosse, now of The Vine Bistro at Glenelly in Stellenbosch, started the fine dining restaurant that was Au Jardin at the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands in the 1990s, I enjoyed a brief stint as the resident wine steward (by no stretch of the imagination was I a sommelier) and recall that Boschendal Grand Vin Blanc (80% Sauvignon Blanc with Riesling and a bit of Semillon) and Hamilton Russell Chardonnay-Sauvignon Blanc were firm customer favourites.

White blends have come a long way since then with André van Rensburg of Vergelegen starting to champion the classic Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon combination from the 2001 vintage while Eben Sadie pioneered what has fairly widely come to be termed the Cape White Blend with Palladius the following year, this maiden release a blend of 40% Chenin plus equal parts, Chardonnay, Grenache Blanc and Viognier, the alcohol 15% and the RS 3.8g/l according to the 2005 edition of Platter’s!

Chris Mullineux, of Mullineux Wines and a Swartland compatriot of Sadie’s, admits his original reaction to Palladius was “What the hell?” on account of how peculiar the concept of using Chenin in conjunction with Rhône varieties then seemed but soon saw the merits. “These blends provide fruit density and texture but also freshness,” he says. “In addition, they don’t bear comparison to too many other wines in the world and can be thought of as proudly South African.”

Mullineux relates that many of the Cape White Blends in the mid-2000s were rather big in terms of residual sugar and alcohol as producers attempted to avoid excessively lean and under-ripe wines at all costs. Local winemakers were quick to gain work experience at southern France wineries such as Domaine Gauby and Le Soula, and a growing appreciation of how to approach viticulture and winemaking in order to achieve wines of better balance came about. “Palate weight comes naturally in the Swartland – it’s a product of the old vines, climate and soils. It’s freshness we have to work on – we want to make wines that two people can polish off quickly and still feel energized,” says Mullineux.