The Wine Column: Travel broadens the palette

Travel is supposed to broaden the mind. But it wasn't that part of me that spread during a recent whistlestop tour of the Cape. I spent most of three autumn days sitting and spitting on the same comfortable spot at Grande Roche in Paarl. A panel of nine chewed the fat and the lean of the Cape wine industry for the inaugural South African Trophy Wine Show set up by Michael Fridjhon. The exercise – or lack of it – revealed the urgency and seriousness with which the Cape industry is grasping the global competition nettle. For the results of our endeavours visit www.wine.co.za.

Although cooped up indoors most of the time, I managed a glimpse of the patchwork of russets, greens and golds of autumn set against the spectacular dinosaur-like spines of the winelands' mountains. The most visible change in the Cape's vineyards is the continuing trend from white to red wines. Despite the shift, white wines still account for a massive 85 per cent of production with premium whites gradually growing at the expense of the oceans of mediocrity made from traditional workhorse grapes.

South Africa has been slow to exploit the potential of its white wine legacy. But there are encouraging signs that not all producers are being lured by the siren call of chardonnay. Progress is being made with other white wine styles, notably sauvignon blanc and to a lesser extent semillon, viognier and riesling. At the same time older chenin blanc bush vines are being used to create an alternative to chardonnay .

Although highly sensitive to site and climate, sauvignon has reached a price and quality level that beats Chile and undercuts New Zealand. Evidence at the affordable end lies in wines like the crisply herbaceous 2001 Excelsior Sauvignon Blanc from Robertson (£4.49, Waitrose), the exotic, mini-sancerre styles of the 2001 Porcupine Ridge Sauvignon Blanc (£4.99-£5.49, Oddbins, Asda, Somerfield) and the nettley 2001 Zondernaam Sauvignon Blanc (£6.99, Majestic, or £5.99 if you buy two). For sheer class, the quality shows in benchmark sauvignons like the intensely tropical, gooseberryish 2001 Vergelegen Reserve Sauvignon Blanc (£9.99, Sainsbury's) and the crisp, full-flavoured Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc from Constantia (£7.99, Waitrose).

Beyond the golden triangle of Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschhoek, new styles are emerging from cooler areas like Elgin, Darling, Cape Agulhas and Elim. From the Darling area on the west coast, the vineyard pioneer Neil Ellis produces a beautifully crafted sauvignon in the 2001 Neil Ellis Groenekloof Sauvignon Blanc (£7.99, Safeway). And close to the Indian Ocean at Elim, Flagstone's 2001 Free Run Sauvignon Blanc (£6.99, Oddbins), with its new-mown grass and green-bean crispness, is a truly characterful sauvignon with the virtues of gooseberry flavour and bracing freshness.

Chenin blanc is a slower developer, but the demand for something other than chardonnay repays persistence with the Cape's most widely planted grape. Some 50 producers within the Chenin Blanc Association are defining new styles based on improved fruit quality, whether unoaked for zingy freshness or barrel-fermented for complexity. At the bargain-basement level the 2001 Rylands Grove Barrel-fermented Chenin Blanc will be a steal at £3.99 when it arrives soon at Tesco. Among other producers to look out for are Jordan and Avontuur while Kanu's stylish oaked 2000 Chenin Blanc (£8.99, Selfridges) is the ultimate food-friendly white. The Cape of Good Hope is rapidly living up to its name.