At Tuesday’s launch of Capensis, SA’s ultimate terroir by truck Chardonnay, winemaker Graham Weerts commented that “Chardonnay is the most transparent variety. The one which shows the site best.” While Jan Boland Coetzee (happy 70th birthday this month, Jan!) may beg to differ on behalf of Pinot Noir, a case can be made that Chardonnay is the ultimate naked grape.

And of the three components that go to make Capensis, the one which seem to have had the most effect was the 20% of Kaaimansgat grapes viticulturalist Rosa Kruger (a rose between two thorns, below) sourced from Peter Finlayson. Confirming that while the Swartland young guns may make all the running in the press, the old guard like Peter, Gyles Webb and Charles Back knew what they were doing a generation and more ago. Even if history is frantically being reinvented to erase their contribution to site selection.

I had a bottle of Bouchard Finlayson 2013 Kaaimansgat Chardonnay at Societi Bistro last night and what a stunna. Smokey limes on the palate, silky texture and consummate balance. Another Elandskloof wine to watch out for is the Anthonij Rupert Serruria 2012 and 2013 made from grapes grown on a farm called Altima which rather gives the game away: altitude.

That great Jamaican wine writer Bob Marley summed up the attractions of Kaaimansget wines rather well:

I’m so high, I even touch the sky
Above the falling rain
I feel so good in my neighborhood, so
Here I come again

Got to have kaya now [Repeat: x3]
For the rain is falling…