Johannesburg — THE annual Tops at Spar Chenin Blanc Challenge produced an unsurprising first-time winner in a category that has long been dominated by a couple of wine makers. Spier's Eleonor Visser took home the award with a 2004 Spier Private Collection Chenin Blanc that has balance, depth, elegance and remarkably sumptuous fruit.

As chairman of the judging panel I can hardly pretend to be impartial. However, in a decade of judging the competition my preferred wine has rarely finished in the winner's berth, and I was particularly pleased to see, in this year's laureate, a wine where restraint, rather than showiness, was a hallmark feature.

This column has, over the years, been something of a soapbox for the Chenin Blanc renaissance. There are still a great number of premium white wine drinkers in this country who have little idea of the transformation that has been wrought in the category since the mid 1990s. Chenin's image -- tainted by almost a century of bulk wine abuse -- has been so tarnished that they simply cannot believe that the same varietal offers a better concentration of superb wines than any other South African white wine category.

The annual Chenin Blanc Challenge probably yields the highest density of four-star and better wines than just about any other panel tasting. Arguably the group of specialist tasters who deal with this class may be more generous than their colleagues. However, Chenin producers have access to more old vine grape sources than other wine makers. The depth and concentration they achieve in their wines is a direct consequence of this. Until the Cabernet, Chardonnay and Shiraz producers can match this resource, they must expect cosmetics, rather than substance, to do their work for them.

Ken Forrester (who was runner-up again) is probably the unluckiest Chenin producer. Over the years he has dominated the competition without ever taking home the trophy. His consolation must be that he is recognised and remembered long after most of the others have been forgotten.

The two-day judging produced eight finalists from the 90 or so wines entered.

In addition to the Spier Private Collection 2004, the Ken Forrester 2005 and the Forrester-Meinert FMC 2004, the other wines on the short list were Bellingham's The Maverick 2004, the Anura 2004, the Spice Route 2004, the Kanu Wooded 2004, and the De Morgenzon 2005.

While in the Cape for the Chenin Challenge awards, I tasted a couple of memorable current releases. The Hazendal 2005 Sauvignon Blanc was one: it is infinitely fuller, richer, and more substantial than the much-vaunted Black Oyster Catcher, for example. Bottelary may not enjoy the same reputation for Sauvignon Blanc as the cooler locations but at least Ronell Wiid knows when her grapes are ripe.

I also liked Morgenster's The Summer House 2002, an inexpensive but beautifully put together red blend of mainly Cabernet and Merlot. Not showy, but with fine tannins, it is the kind of wine I would be happy to see on restaurant wine lists everywhere.