“A true masterpiece. This undoubtedly cements Kiara’s place at the top table of Cape Chenin producers.” - Greg Sherwood MW, 96 points

We have been very fortunate over the last couple of months to taste the very best Chenin Blancs that South Africa has to offer. A couple of weeks ago we met up with Eben Sadie and tasted through his incredible range and prior to that we were at a lunch hosted by Adi Badenhorst followed by a run-through of Chris Alheit’s new releases. I’m only name-dropping shamelessly to highlight how lucky we are to be able to benchmark the absolute crème de la crème of what is one of the most exciting categories in the world of wine. It’s a constellation full of stars, but we feel there is a new name that deserves to be added and she has done it with her first vintage, and I genuinely believe it tops them all.

It’s not beginner’s luck, because winemaker Kiara Scott is a name that has been on everybody’s lips for years, honing her craft at Brookdale under the watchful eye of consultant, Duncan Savage, before being headhunted by Hazendal to steer them in a very exciting new direction. Her Chenin Blanc ‘Estate Collection’ 2025 is a shimmering, glistening masterpiece. It takes a little bit of inspiration from Meursault, adding flecks of quartz-like minerality and flinty reduction, but that’s just the veil that lifts to reveal strikingly pure and crystalline Stellenbosch fruit beneath, laser-beam acidity and something akin to sea-shell, lip-smacking salinity. There is so much going on, you barely know which way to look. As for my unfalsifiable claim that it “tops them all”, I can only say that if there were a line-up of the most celebrated Chenin Blancs from The Cape, this is the one I would take home with me. Sorry, Eben. Sorry, Chris. Sorry, Adi, oh he wasn’t listening anyway. 13% alc. Only 2,000 bottles produced. Drink now-2036.

Press reviews:

Greg Sherwood MW: “One of Kiara Scott-Farmer’s signature grapes is of course Chenin Blanc, and the 2025 vintage has offered her the perfect canvas to create a true masterpiece. The aromatics are rich and enticing with complex notes of perfumed honeysuckle, white blossoms, peaches, wet hay and melted honey on warm white toast with a delicate kiss of cinnamon wood spice. The crystalline purity, clarity and complexity follow to a palate that shows an impressive textural density and yellow orchard fruit concentration while at the same time exhibiting a sensation of lightness, elegance and lithe weightlessness. The finish is delicately spicy and mineral with an overt underlying salinity that makes it deliciously mouth-watering. This new wine undoubtedly cements Kiara’s place at the top table of Cape Chenin producers. Drink now and over the next decade.” 96 points

Jamie Goode: “This is from a 2 hectare block, and Kiara does 8 different picks. Weathered granite with quartz soils, and the vines are planted treinspoor, with two rows very close to each other, and then a normal row, like train tracks. Fermented and aged in 500 litre French oak, wild ferment, malolactic goes if it goes. Lovely texture here with white peach and pear fruit, showing freshness and good acidity. Lovely focus and tension, but also some freshness. Really expressive and crystalline.” 95 points

Tamlyn Currin for Jancis Robinson.com: “Winemaker Kiara Scott-Farmer’s distinctive hand is evident – she has a Turner-like ability to take the landscape in front of her and reveal it to us bathed in light, radiating with movement and yet holding stillness at the core. Her wines have a way of taking us right to the vineyard. In this golden wine that sings of sunlight, quince and kumquat, I can taste the stones and the shadows. I can taste the minty sweetness of helichrysum and the honeyed scent of dried flowers drifting across a dusty wind. In her wines, Kiara sifts stories through places, weaves flavour from time, and always leaves her fingerprint of joy. Drink now-2035.” 18 points