Having a spittoon of black sommeliers blind taste two dozen whites is good odds. Which is what happened at the Taj this morning at the first WellsFaber Best Value tasting of the season. Wines from as far away as Vermaaklikheid (Baleia) and Franschhoek (Allee Bleu and their amazing new Blue Owl brand) mixed it up with Stellenbosch stalwarts Clos Malvern and Zonnebloem while Paarl producers were not absent with Nederburg participating.

Top scoring and best value six packs will be revealed tomorrow but in the meantime, a couple of observations.

The number of unwooded Chardonnays entered was double the Chenin Blanc tally. Chardonnay, wooded and unwooded, was second only to white blends in the style department. Is Chardonnay resurging at the minute?

Newly released reds are up at the end of the month when Luvo from the One & Only and Joseph from La Colombe join the panel. Producers wishing to play should send two bottle and NO MONEY to The Pendock (formerly the Pendock Wine Gallery) sometime during the next two weeks while I’m acclimatizing to Abuja.