Winelovers enjoy few things more than surprises in the form of lesser or unknown labels. Here are two worth discovering.

Both these wines set themselves up to be judged on the face of it with delightfully unusual names and labels. Who could ignore an wine called The Hedonist? Or one wrapped in pretty floral tissue and bearing the name Botanica and a classic flower drawing?

The surprise comes within the bottles: two very fine wines with distinct, even quirky, personalities. Both offer pretty smart drinking, even though they will improve with aging too.

The Hedonist 2008 is another of those fashionable ‘Rhône-style’ red blends from the Swartland, but a closer encounter (the youthful zippiness of individual ingredients amalgamated beautifully after a day of being opened) reveals a perfumed raciness and some stylish intelligence beyond just the trendy.

The wine is made by go-getters David Cope (ex Caps Classics and Distell) and Simon Wibberley (who serves as manager at the &Union beer hang-out beneath St Stephen’s in Cape Town). It’s from shiraz (80 percent), carignan, grenache(50-year-old vines) and a dash of Viognier. t’s a real boutique offering and rare to find with total production of 225 cases of six.

Cope explains: “The first of hopefully several wines, we aim to produce small batches of quality wines that stand out in the glass as much as on the shelf. The idea is to produce wines that we like, not necessarily what the market is after.”

He says they have just started out and ‘learning the entire process, so it’s a long way to go’. Help came from several winemaker friends such as Adi Badenhorst, Craig Hawkins at Lammershoek (where the fruit is from) and Luke O'Cuinnegan at Glenelly.

Another stand-up surprise wine is Virginia Povall’s intriguing, tightly-woven Botanica chenin blanc 2009.

A self-taught American winemaker who pinned her vineyard stake in Devon Valley two years ago and planted a few hectares there for the future, Povall made this wine from 50-year-old vines, dry farmed near Clanwilliam. A touch of wood provides a creamy richness on the palate that backs a classic chenin nose and bold structure. Beautiful length lingers in mouth and mind.

The wine was made at Zorgvliet with Neil Moorhouse at hand. And, like the guys’ product, is one of passion: “I always wanted to own a vineyard somewhere, produce the best grapes possible.  My wine-making experience, if you can call it that, is really just making small batches at home in the US from grapes available locally, shipped from California or Argentina - sort of like baking bread from a recipe book.”

Well, Ginny Povall’s recipe turned out pretty smartly.

Botanica chenin blanc 2009 is available at The Vineyard Connection. The Hedonist 2008 is available at &Union.