Naude, Old Vines Chenin Blanc, Western Cape

2024 Judgement of Wimbledon (Wimbledon) : Judgement of Wimbledon Absolute stunner of a wine. In its prime, and still has a lot of life left in it. Crunchy. Earth. Rich fruit. Stunning

South Africa (Must and Lees, N1) : A little darker than expected and with a herbal aroma. On the palate a bit leafy and with a bitter mid-point - I wonder if this was in perfect condition? It was not markedly flawed or even unpleasant but I think it would have been a lot better with food rather than as part of a tasting flight, especially given the zippiness of the wines that preceded it.

South African wines of North London (Must & Lees) : I was really looking forward to this, but I think the particular bottle was slightly over the hill - albeit in an interesting way. A fair bit of reduction on the nose, and a lot of curry leaf; that's one of my favourite scents, so pretty nice all in all. More exotic spice on the palate - cardomom? - and very good length. Glad to have tried this, but it …

Bit of reduction, but not enough to be annoying. Slightly bitter. It lacks nerve /tension and is likely past its best, which I suspect was a few years ago now. Not very compelling. OK but unmemorable.

Many in the room thought this was over the hill. I would beg to differ, and I liked its aged complexity and especially its cardoman and other Indian spice notes. It was the most interesting of the whites.

North London TWS Tastings series: South Africa (Must and Lees, N1) (Must and Lees N1) : Interesting curry leaf nose with a little reduction. Spicy curry and cardoman on the palate. A little sharp. Interesting but not quite my tempo

Medium gold. Med intensity. High acidity. Reductive, flinty, almondy and salty. Mineral and dried flowers Buttery and textured. Fruitless serious staff. 100% whole bunch pressed directly into 500-liter new to third fill barrels. Long time on the lees with once a week stirring.

First bottle of this and it’s rather good. Has a good amount of oak which for me is just about right as of now and will improve. Maybe a touch of green lemon on the finish which may well fill out just a touch more with age. This may well have many years ahead of it as seems well structured. There are some good flavours behind the oak with more cream and butter angles as it opens Very good and …

Very pale, delicate straw colour, with a touch of green even. No visible signs of its current age. Lovely floral character on the nose and some fruity touches, such as pear and apple. The most enticingly vivid acidity - not too sharp, just right to bring out the tension with the fruit - superb balance, subtlety, limpidity and elegant restraint. And bravo for keeping the alcohol level so discreet at 12.5% ABV. Elegant and very fine.

Lusher than the Beaumont, lovely almond and melon tones - super

Old Vine Series Tasting with Ian Naude (Hosted by Greg Sherwood MW) (Handford Wines, London) : Bush vines 52yrs+ in age from 3 vineyards. Side by side with the 2015 (Papies 93 too albeit a very different wine to this one) Very solid wine and easily his Chenins were our favourite of the line up. A beautiful balance of tension and richness, lightest touch of a waxy texture. Very mineral and far away from any oaky influence, decent weight of …

Drank at 67 Wonderful rich nose of honey and yellow fruits. Smooth rich palate. Incredible value.