Alex Dale is a busy bloke. As well as running his eponymous winery Radford Dale, he also has a hand in the wines of The Winery of Good Hope, which is producing some of the best value wines out of South Africa at the moment. Chenin Blanc is a star variety in the country, with old vineyards and a real national style. This is clean, medium bodied, and has good pulpy fruit weight on the mid-palate. The finish is classic Chenin Blanc - zippy, acidic and frisky. There is some herbaceousness - fresh grass and lemon verbena - that add complexity to the green apple and pear fruit. Great drinking.

Head down to the beautiful South African wine region of Stellenbosch, and you’re sure to come across no shortage of quality wineries. However, the team behind the Winery of Good Hope are keen to get across the message that - despite being proud of their Stellenbosch heritage and the quality associated with this region - they stand well apart from their neighbours and contemporaries. Why? Simply because they, like certain others, sense that Stellenbosch has become a little too big for its own boots, and has started to become a bit on the flashy side. The Winery of Good Hope believe that by stripping away all the pretension, the expectations, and the occasionally flashes of silliness surrounding fine wine, they’re able to provide the world with a real taste of the region which focuses on expression, the natural flavour of the fruit, and the traditional methods used. It’s an honourable approach, and one which is clearly serving them very well indeed. From their cellar at the base of the beautiful Helderberg Mountain, they’ve committed themselves to making the kinds of wines they would love to knock back at the end of a hard day, and to do so with a clear conscience along every step of the way. A sense of ethics and environmental awareness is at the forefront of all they do, as is a set of approaches which puts natural methods centre stage. The name - The Winery of Good Hope - isn’t just a geographical description, therefore. It’s a manifesto, a promise, and an aspiration. Alex Dale is a busy bloke. As well as running his eponymous winery Radford Dale, he also has a hand in the wines of The Winery of Good Hope, which is producing some of the best value wines out of South Africa at the moment. Chenin Blanc is a star variety in the country, with old vineyards and a real national style. This is clean, medium bodied, and has good pulpy fruit weight on the mid-palate. The finish is classic Chenin Blanc - zippy, acidic and frisky. There is some herbaceousness - fresh grass and lemon verbena - that add complexity to the green apple and pear fruit. Great drinking.