Chenin Blanc has no single setting. It can be bright and fruit-driven, richly textured or made to develop for years in the bottle. The Global Chenin Blanc Masters celebrates that range, accepting entries from anywhere in the world and in any style, provided Chenin Blanc accounts for at least half the blend. With a field that broad, it is, in other words, not a small pond.
That makes the recognition of four Spier wines across four of our ranges at the 2026 competition even more momentous. Our 21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2024 received a Master award, while Good Natured Organic Chenin Blanc 2025 and Seaward Chenin Blanc 2025 were both awarded Gold. Signature Chenin Blanc 2025 completed the line-up with a Silver award.
Four wines, one thread
Chenin Blanc is South Africa’s most widely planted wine grape, but its importance is not simply a matter of scale. These four wines show how comfortably it moves between old-vine depth and youthful freshness, oak and steel, a single vineyard and a broader region.
Our 21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2024 begins at the oldest point in the story: a Certified Heritage Vineyard planted between 1983 and 1985. The grapes are picked in five parcels across three February dates, capturing different stages of ripeness. The wine is fermented in 300-, 400- and 2,500-litre French oak barrels before maturing for up to a year. This gives the cellar team varying degrees of oak influence to bring together later, treating a single variety almost like a blend.
Good Natured Organic Chenin Blanc 2025 moves into a younger register, drawing on four- to ten-year-old Paarl vines rooted in decomposed granite soils with a high clay content. Stainless-steel fermentation keeps the fruit bright, while four months on the lees build texture.
Our Seaward Chenin Blanc 2025 brings the Atlantic into the picture. Its dryland vineyards lie in the Tygerberg Hills, close enough to the coast for cooling ocean winds to temper the growing conditions. Four hours of skin contact are followed by fermentation, half in older French oak and half in stainless steel. Five months on the lees round out the wine.
Finally, our Signature Chenin Blanc 2025 casts the widest net, drawing on trellised and bush vines across the Western Cape. Brief skin contact and cool-temperature fermentation preserve its freshness, while fine-lees maturation adds body without weight. No oak required.
From old-vine complexity to easy, everyday enjoyment, these wines highlight just how versatile Chenin Blanc can be.
