I’m a white blend fan – white wines in general really, but blends in particular. It’s a category that South Africa does particularly well, which is hardly surprising given our huge diversity of terroir, and therefore our unique ability to merge ‘old world’ austerity with ‘new world’ fruit.

The Great White Tasting, an annual event intended to raise the bar on white blends, and to encourage media and trade understanding of the category, took place this year in a workshop format; and what a privilege it was to be involved. In addition to working with a passionate team led by Adoro’s Ian Naudé, the calibre of the speakers and winemaker response were better than we could have imagined.

Peter Fischer of Chateau Revelette in Provence and Trio Infernal in Spain, aside from being a super chap, spoke very well to the topic. Of greatest interest to me were his comments on how his growing experience had allowed him to dabble with organic wine production – and to say no to fertilisers sales representatives. Of greatest joy to me was his Trio Infernal blend, whose exotic smoky character kept me coming back for more. That and Eben Sadie’s exquisite Sequillo White, which I happily have in ready supply at my local Manuka store.

It was encouraging to see the number of winemakers taking part; the overwhelming majority of whom were our key target audience – those being the young and upcoming white blend initiates. If next year’s event serves its purpose half as well, it will have been worthwhile indeed.