Bot River is a cool, wind-swept ward at the inland edge of Walker Bay. Breezes from the lagoon and the bay spill into the valley each afternoon, tempering summer heat and preserving the acidity that has made Chenin Blanc the region’s main driver. Beaumont Family Wines farms a 490-hectare property originally settled in the 1700s and purchased by the Beaumonts in 1974, with Table Mountain sandstone and Bokkeveld shale soils that abuts the UNESCO-listed Kogelberg Biosphere. A landscape whose herbal, garrigue-like aromatics are echoed subtly in its wines. Sebastian Beaumont, who joined the farm as viticulturist in 2002 and took over winemaking two years later, has built a reputation as “The Chenin Dude,” his Hope Marguerite bottling now a South African benchmark, but it is the estate’s foundational Chenin that most clearly reflects the valley’s character. The 2024 release is hand-picked early to retain freshness, destemmed and processed in the cool of morning, then settled overnight before fermenting primarily in concrete with a small stainless-steel component, followed by two to four months of fine-lees aging that layers texture over its naturally high acidity. Lemon zest, white peach, pineapple start things off while the mineral finish makes things interesting for chicken alfredo, a fresh green salad with vinaigrette or an Asian rice dish.