Wine is definitely about chilling out, relaxing, connecting with friends. The 2020 Chenin Party, held again at the very trendy Grand Beach Café right on the water’s edge next to the V&A Waterfront, clearly hit all the right spots! It was a scorcher of a day – with the rest of Cape Town struggling against the fierce South Easterly wind, but the sheltered beach café was the perfect venue to get away from the Cape Doctor There were plenty of excellent Chenins and being so very hot I decided best to focus on my favourite for summer, viz the bubblies. One of my long-term favourites is the Stellenrust Chenin Sparkling Brut, which is the first ‘Prosecco-style’ in the country (as far as I know) and it is zesty and lemony and fresh so of course had to make sure it was still up to scratch! I attended a wedding recently with one half of the family being Italian, and they insisted on using the Stellenrust Bubbly and they just loved it! I then discovered that in fact Vrede en Lust also make a ‘Prosecco-styled bubbly, with theirs being predominantly Chardonnay with a touch of Chenin and Pinot Noir. Delicious too, but double the price of the Stellenrust. Another discovery was the KWV Sparkling Chenin – which was quite sweet and I predict a big uptake on this by the early-adopters of wine! There are few other MCCs from Chenin – notably the FILIA by Christa von La Chevallerie who recently sold her farm to Chris Alheit but still making awesome wines and feeling the lighter for it. Her magnum FILIA MCC was simply divine! King of Chenin is of course Ken Forrester who makes a number of excellent chenins, including his Sparkle Horse – so named because Chenin was known as the work horse of varieties. Chenin is known for its versatility and the wines I tasted clearly showed this. Barrel-fermented vs unwooded, vs foudre vs bubbly vs sweet. Something for everyone!