Value lies in the tastebuds of the winelover; not as neat an expression as 'beauty lies in the eye of the beholder', but as true, nonetheless.

It so happens I attended two events last week that concerned wines at either end of the price spectrum. Both offer value, though I anticipate there will be many who won't appreciate such attribute in the more expensive wine, for as I wrote a couple of blogs ago, most equate value with low cost.

There are somewhere between 6000 and 7000 labels on the South African market, enough to sow sufficient confusion among consumers, who eagerly snap up an annual proliferation of guides which attempt to sort out the good from the bad and the ugly. While Platter continues to be the grandfather of them all (interest alert, as Cathy van Zyl would say; my involvement with Platter dates back some 25 years), others have found their own niche. Wine magazine's Best Value guide is one such and with the just-launched 2010 edition, celebrates its tenth year of publication.

Critera for entry this time included an upfront payment for each wine to participate in a blind tasting judged by seasoned palates, a minimum score of 2.5 stars and availability ex cellar or retail in South Africa for under R60. A total of 1093 wines were entered, of which 384, covering all styles, made the cut.

That R60 maximum isn't an entirely arbitrary figure but one suggested by Wine magazine's readers when polled about the maximum they'd be prepared to spend on a wine for everyday drinking. It nets some pretty impressive producers and wines: Beyerskloof (Pinotage), Cape Point Vineyards (Scarborough Red), Cederberg (Cederberger), Hartenberg (Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz, Weisser Riesling), Klein Constantia (KC Sauvignon Blanc) and Newton Johnson (Felicté Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - yes, a genuinely delicious pinot for under R60, it gets my absolute best value vote this year) to name a random few.

As value is apportioned according to a formula of price in relation to rating, it's not surprising the co-operatives perform well, but for shear consistency it would be difficult to beat Du Toitskloof Cellar, which, with this year's success, has topped the Best Value awards for five of those ten years. What more appropriate accolade for Philip Jordaan, who, after 26 years as winemaker, is leaving the cellar to concentrate on his already well-established own label. Philip has always maintained that Du Toitskloof, with only 22 members, is more like a private winery than a co-op, the growers working together as a family to produce the best wine.

I sipped happily on their 2009 Chenin Blanc during the awards lunch. It's R23 ex-cellar, achieved a 3.5 star rating, 10/10 value and perfectly fulfils the bill of unchallenging, everyday pleasure.

The guide will be available only with the November issue of Wine magazine, due out later this week.

More challenging and less everyday drinking, though providing even greater pleasure is Hartenberg's Gravel Hill Syrah 2005. This wine, from a specific vineyard blessed with ferrous stone (as the photo shows, something rather larger than gravel!) and potters clay sub-strata - 'some of the poorest soils in the Western Cape' enthuses winemaker, Carl Schultz - was selected for 14 successive Cape Winemakers Guild auctions, a track record unsurpassed by any wine from other CWG members.

At the relaxed long-lunch launch, the family likeness between the 2005 and 2000 that Schultz kindly opened for comparison, was clear. The younger wine is restrained, vibrant and taut but in no way harsh and, singularly, copes effortlessly with 25 months in new French oak. This does the job oak should, allow the wine a wonderful evolution. The 2000 has a similar refreshing structure, but the developing flavour complexity is now starting to assert itself (Schultz confirms the wine easily matures for 15 years).

For consistency, distinction and lack of modern over-ripe, over-oaked vulgarity, the Gravel Hill Syrah sets an enviable benchmark. It is a wine such as this that demonstrates South Africa can produce classic shiraz. For these, among other reasons, the R685 per bottle asking price (roughly the same price achieved by the 2004, the last vintage to be sold on the CWG auction) represents great value.