Seeking to find the best examples of Chardonnay between the R60 and R100 price points, the wines were tasted blind by our three judges: Joanne Gibson, Ndaba Dube and Jeanri-Tine van Zyl with scoring done on the 100-point system.

As expected, the submissions were across a fairly broad spectrum stylistically, from ‘lean and fresh’ to ‘rich and full bodied’. Those that excelled displayed varietal typicity with focused citrus or stone fruit purity as well as well-handled oak treatment, where applicable. 50% of the wines received scores of 86 and above proving there is fantastic quality available within this price range. Hardly surprisingly, as it turned out, there were two shining examples from the Breede River Valley (one from the limestone soils of Robertson, which boasts the Cape’s biggest plantings of Chardonnay, and one from Slanghoek in the Breedekloof). But then, as if to illustrate just how well Chardonnay adapts to different growing conditions, we also had wines from the Wine of Origin ‘extremes’ of cool-climate Cape Town and Calitzdorp in the semi-arid Klein Karoo.

The top five #BestValue wines at this price point, are as follows:

Fat Bastard Chardonnay 2018

Cape Town Wine Co Chardonnay 2018

De Krans Wild Ferment Unwooded Chardonnay 2018

Laibach The Ladybird (Woolworths) 2018

Slanghoek Private Selection Chardonnay 2019

To read the full tasting article, including key findings, tasting notes for the top five and scores on the 100-point quality scale.