Camino Africana Chenin Blanc
£22.00
£29.33 per litre · incl. 20% VAT
In Stock — 3 bottles available
93Tim Atkin MW
92Wine Spectator
92Wine Enthusiast
93Platter's South African Wine Guide
Old bush vines, granite soils, and a winemaker who knows exactly when to step back. This Stellenbosch Chenin is the quiet kind of brilliant, saline, mineral, and texturally layered, with the kind of restraint that only comes from grapes that have spent decades fighting for their place in the soil. A serious white for people who've moved beyond the obvious.
Our Verdict
We rate David Finlayson as one of the most quietly authoritative names in Stellenbosch, and Camino Africana is the wine where his restraint really pays off. Tim Atkin and Platter's have both given recent releases 93 points, and we'd back that. What we love is the texture, that creamy, lees-driven weight wrapped around a properly saline, almost briny finish you only get from bushvines this old. This is the bottle we reach for when someone tells us they're 'a bit bored of Chenin'. Stocks are limited, six bottles on the shelf as we write.
Tasting Notes
Whole-bunch pressing and old French oak give this Chenin its quiet authority. The nose drifts between yellow pear, lemon pith and crushed wet stone, with a whisper of beeswax and toasted almond from twelve months on the lees. The palate is taut and saline, that umami, sea-salt grip you only get from bushvines that have spent six decades wrestling granite, before a long, mineral finish that leaves you reaching for the next sip.
Saline minerality
Crushed granite and a distinct sea-salt tang on the palate, the calling card of old bushvines rooted in decomposed shale.
Orchard fruit
Ripe yellow pear, baked quince and a squeeze of lemon pith give the wine its generous, sun-soaked core without ever tipping into sweetness.
Lees-driven texture
Twelve months on the lees lend a creamy, almost custardy weight, with toasted almond and beeswax adding subtle savoury depth.
About This Wine
There's a moment with great old-vine Chenin where the wine stops being about fruit and starts being about place, and Camino Africana hits that moment from the first sip. The name means 'The African Way', and that's exactly what's in the glass: a Stellenbosch white that doesn't borrow its style from Burgundy or the Loire. It's its own thing entirely.
The fruit comes from two parcels of bushvines planted between the 1960s and 1980s in the Bottelary Hills, where sandy loam topsoils give way to decomposed granite and shale beneath. Those vines have had to work for every drop, and you taste it. Expect lifted citrus and ripe orchard fruit on the nose, then a palate that turns serious, wet stone, baking spices, a savoury, almost umami depth, and that unmistakable saline finish that great Cape Chenin does better than anywhere else on earth.
David Finlayson made this with the lightest possible hand. Whole-bunch pressing, natural-yeast fermentation in older French oak with a small portion in concrete egg, then twelve months on the lees. No malolactic, which keeps the acid line bright and the whole thing humming with tension.
Drink it with roast chicken and lemon, grilled line-fish, or a wedge of mature Comté. It'll also reward another five to seven years in the cellar if you can keep your hands off it. Delivered across the UK, and the kind of bottle that turns a wine-loving friend into a fan for life.
Food Pairing
The saline streak and creamy lees-weight make this a serious food wine. Reach for roast chicken with lemon and thyme, or a plate of grilled prawns with garlic butter. It's brilliant with a Sunday lunch of roast pork belly and apple sauce, and the umami finish makes it a natural partner for mushroom risotto or a hard, aged Comté.
- —Roast chicken with lemon, garlic and thyme
- —Grilled tiger prawns with garlic butter
- —Slow-roasted pork belly with apple sauce
- —Wild mushroom and parmesan risotto
- —Aged Comté or a mature farmhouse Cheddar
How to Serve
Temperature
Lightly chilled, not fridge-cold. Pull it from the fridge twenty minutes before pouring to let the texture open up.
Decanting
Not essential, but a half-hour in a decanter or jug rewards the patient, the lees-driven richness and stony minerality both gain definition with a little air, especially in younger bottles.
Glass
A larger white wine glass with a tapered rim, Burgundy-style works well, gives the textured palate space to show.
Cellaring
Store on its side in a cool, dark spot at 10-14°C with steady humidity. Worth tucking a few bottles away to watch the honeyed, dried-fruit character emerge.
Ageing & Cellaring
Drinks beautifully on release, but there's no rush. The old-vine concentration, lees structure and bright acidity will carry it comfortably for five to seven years, with the best bottles holding for a decade. Expect the orchard fruit to deepen into honey and dried apricot as time softens the saline edge.
The Land
Bottelary Hills bushvines, planted between the 1960s and 1980s, dig into sandy loam topsoils over granitic gravel and decomposed granite shale. That stony, mineral-rich subsoil forces the roots deep, and decades of struggle show up in the glass as wet-stone tension and a savoury, almost saline lift on the finish.
The Winemaking
Whole bunches go straight to press, no crushing, no rough handling, protecting the delicate aromatics from the start. Around ninety percent of the juice ferments with wild yeasts in seasoned French oak, with the remainder settling into concrete eggs. A measured dose of sulphur after primary fermentation blocks malolactic conversion, preserving the bright, citrus-edged tension that defines the wine. Twelve months on the lees then adds texture and a creamy weight, without ever masking the salty, mineral cut underneath.
About the Producer
David Finlayson
David Finlayson grew up in Stellenbosch wine country, third generation, born into it, vines in the family for as long as anyone can remember. He spent decades sharpening his craft in places that matter: a stint at Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux, time with Peter Lehmann in the Barossa, plus years back home making serious wine. In 2004 he and his family bought a rundown farm called Edgebaston in the foothills of the Simonsberg and set about replanting it, parcel by parcel, into the thirty-hectare estate it is today. Camino Africana, "the African way", is his personal statement piece: old vines, minimal intervention, no shortcuts.