Region: Western Cape, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Varietal: 100% Chenin Blanc

Producer: The Finlayson name runs three generations deep in South African winemaking — from Dr. Maurice Finlayson's early days at Hartenberg, through Walter Finlayson's back-to-back Winemaker of the Year titles and the building of Glen Carlou in Paarl, to David Finlayson, who trained as Dux student at Elsenburg Agricultural College before cutting his teeth at Château Margaux in France and Peter Lehmann in Australia. In 2004, David purchased the rundown Stellenbosch farm whose original land title read "Edgebaston" — a name that also happened to be where his maternal grandfather was born in England — and began rebuilding it into the 30-hectare estate it is today. The Camino Africana range represents the soul of that project: small-production, site-specific wines made with minimal intervention that David describes as "my journey in life and wine in South Africa — The African Way."

Vineyard & Winemaking: The old vine Chenin Blanc is sourced from two unirrigated bushvine vineyards planted between the 1960s and 1980s, producing a combined 3 to 5 tonnes per hectare — yields low enough to concentrate everything the site has to offer. All grapes are hand-picked, whole-bunch pressed, and then 90% fermented with natural yeast in older French oak barrels, with the remaining 10% fermented in concrete eggs. Malolactic fermentation is blocked entirely by sulphuring after primary fermentation — a deliberate choice to keep the wine tight, steely, and focused. The wine then matures for 12 months on the lees before bottling. No shortcuts, no manipulation, tiny production.

Tasting Notes: The 2023 earned 4½ stars from John Platter's South African Wine Guide and 91 points from James Suckling — and it's easy to hear why. The nose is fine and mineral, with greengage, almond, lanolin, and a cool saline thread that speaks directly of those old, struggling bushvines. On the palate it is medium-bodied with silky lees texture, bright citrus-driven acidity, and a finish that is long, focused, and unmistakably mineral — the salty, umami quality that only comes from vines that have spent decades pushing roots through resistant soils. This is South African Chenin at its most serious and its most quietly thrilling.