2022 Chardonnay

"I feel like Humpty Dumpty glued back together after the fire,” winemaker and owner, the indefatigable Samantha O’Keefe told me when I tasted her latest wines at the Wines of South Africa offices in Stellenbosch. “I've figured out what happened, and the vineyards are replanted, though they are babies at the moment.” Readers will already be aware that I hold O’Keefe’s wines up as standard bearers for contemporary Cape winemaking, and her latest additions do not disappoint. I’m not an ardent fan of Viognier, but I’ve yet to taste one as good as her Age of Grace, and 2022 is wonderful. Even better, her sublime 2022 Estate Reserve Chardonnay undergoes a little oxidative handling in the winery. If you have not discovered Lismore then, well, don’t blame me when you discover what you’re missing out on.