Three magical South African wines

published 11 June 2010

2005 Adoro Red, South Africa (£19.99, Hanford Wines, 020-7221 9614, www.handford.net; Real Wine Company, 01753-664190, email info@therealwineco.co.uk; Soho Wine Supply, 020-7436 9736, www.sohowine.co.uk; Villeneuve Wines, 01721-722500, www.villeneuvewines.com). In celebration of the start of the World Cup in South Africa, I have found you three wines from one of my favourite wine-makers in the country.

Ian Naud is a magician and he possesses one of the cheekiest smiles in the business. He is a specialist in 'layering' flavour. His interest is in sourcing grapes from different vineyards and then, ignoring their variety or provenance and concentrating solely on flavour and aroma, he sets about building a wine from the bottom up, blending the raw materials incrementally.

For this reason, his blends change year on year - this 2005 is 80% shiraz with some cabernet and merlot. This is how I blend wine and his results are incredible and perfectly harmonious.

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Drinking right now, with five years already under its belt, this is a smooth, bright, layered, classy red with a palate which reflects its country proudly, but also with complexities which baffle the palate. He does the same trick with a stunning white, 2008 Naud White (a chenin blanc, sauvignon blanc, semillon blend from 15 vineyards) and the 2008 Adoro Sauvignon Blanc, sourced from five different regions.

Even single varietal wines can taste remarkably complicated when they are assembled with passion and skill.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year.