1/3 new French oak, 2/3 second fill for 10 months. Sourced largely from cool-climate sites in Hemel-en-Aarde, Elgin and Walker Bay. Generous scent - cream and vanilla oak. Burgundian in style - perhaps just slightly richer - well rounded, with that buttery oak element overlaying ripe melon, pineapple and a touch of honey. Now-2013

Product Code: ATA109

Ataraxia, with vineyards on the slopes of the 1200 metre high Babylon’s Toren, is the creation of Kevin Grant, formerly the hugely admired winemaker at Hamilton Russell at the foot of the valley. The winery is named after the Greek word for a tranquil state of mind, free from worry or preoccupation; and Kevin seeks to make wines of equilibrium and harmony. At the moment he is in part reliant on bought in fruit, as he puts it, “personally sourced from extreme, radical and individual parcels scattered throughout the Cape winelands”, hence the Western Cape region on the bottles. He’s a total perfectionist: most wine-makers are knowledgeable and opinionated on the subject of barrels - the forest source of the oak, the level of toast and cooperage - but Kevin is near obsessive!

Although Kevin’s first vintage was only in 2005, already the wines from Ataraxia, especially the Chardonnay, have won huge praise and awards around the world. A note about the red blend: Kevin deliberately does not list any grape varieties on the label: he sees this wine as more a quest to “show that ‘where from’ is far more decisive than ‘what from’ and is the truest expression of a wine’s personality”. There’s plenty of Syrah in it, but it’s a cocktail of many varieties, and difficult to categorise as a result!