Top Cape wines benchmarked

South African wine writer Tim James sends this report of a recent blind comparison of some of the best wines of the Cape with their smart, and much more expensive, French peers. I see that there was no comparison of Chardonnays. Last Saturday night I happened to serve my last bottle of Glen Carlou Chardonnay 1996 blind with Jean-Marc Pillot's Puligny Folatières 1996 to a table of wine lovers. The South African wine was much preferred to the (pretty oxidised) white burgundy – JR