YOU MIGHT well wonder why Rustenberg Peter Barlow was excluded from the line-up for Winemag.co.za’s 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon report, i.e. given the wine’s great track record over the past 10 years, given that it was scored 5 Stars in the 2014 edition of the report and then chosen as the international judges’ overall favourite at this year’s Trophy Wine Show. You might also wonder
WOW! There will be Syrahs from nearly 80 cellars to experience at the Shiraz Showcase on 18 June – 18:00 to 21:00 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Expect well over 100 beauties available for tasting – including most of the 2015 Shiraz SA Challenge winners. For more info about the Showcase and for tickets to the event, click here. The participating producers
CHAMPIONS at the 2015 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show include both industry stalwarts and newcomers – as well as a Bordeaux-style red blend scored 92 out of 100, priced at under R30 a bottle and made at a cellar that the retailer chooses not to disclose! Rustenberg was the Most Successful Producer Overall, with two gold medallists going on to win trophies, three
THERE WERE 202 entries in the latest Challenge staged by Shiraz SA – 162 single-varietal wines and 40 Shiraz-based blends. TOP 12 SINGLE-VARIETAL WINES IN SHIRAZ SA CHALLENGE 2015 Bellingham The Bernard Series Basket Press Syrah 2013 – Franschhoek Cederberg Shiraz 2013 Christina van Loveren Shiraz 2013 – Robertson Driehoek Shiraz 2012 – Cederberg Eagles’ Nest Shiraz 2012 – Constantia Fairview
TALK ABOUT hitting it off with the French! The 2013 vintage of Groot Constantia Shiraz has been voted one of the Top 10 among the gold medallists at this year’s Syrah du Monde in the village of Ampuis, Northern Rhône Valley, France. SA GOLD MEDALLISTS AT SYRAH DU MONDE 2015 Cederberg CWG Auction Reserve Teen die Hoog Shiraz 2012 Groot Constantia Shiraz
DIEMERSDAL, Steenberg and Delaire Graff shone brightly for South Africa at the international Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2015. At the contest, held in Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region this year, two of the SA trio won a couple of medals each, with Diemersdal of Durbanville winning three. In all, gold medals were presented for four Sauvignon Blancs from the Cape – two of them from
TEN YEARS ago Oldenburg Vineyards in Banghoek outside Stellenbosch en route to Franschhoek hadn’t yet bottled their first wine. Today they have a growing reputation for good Chenin, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, two of which have excelled at one of the world’s biggest wine shows, now in its 32nd year… Also stepping into the spotlight more than once at
ONE OF THE things that differentiates the international wine competition Concours Mondial de Bruxelles is that also its held in a different country every year. Although the organisers are based in Brussels, Belgium, the 22nd edition of the event was held in Jesolo, Italy – Jesolo being a beach resort near Venice. And among the most remarkable outcomes of Mondial 2015
THEY SAY the reason for changing venue was a lack of space. In just a couple of years, the Feast of Shiraz & Charcuterie grew in popularity to the point that host Hartenberg was bursting at the seams and hence the switch to Joostenberg Deli & Bistro for the 2015 event on Saturday 30 May, 12:00 to 17:00 – not quite as
SOMETHING(S) to bear in mind if planning a trip to the Cool Wine & Country Festival in Elgin between 9am and 5pm on 2 & 3 May that involves a weekend pass costing R100 pp: Not every Elgin wine will be on show – non-participants include Richard Kershaw, Spioenkop and Sutherland (of Thelema), plus a number of other producers who
COULD wine lovers take a big liking to South African red wines made solely from Grenache? It’s early days still, but notable how many leading cellars in the Cape have warmed to this variety, widely planted in Spain and France, typically used in Rhône-style, Shiraz-led blends but also making for very respectable single-varietal wines. That SA Grenache on its own
THE WINEMAKING team led by cellarmaster Boela Gerber at Groot Constantia have got off to a great start to the year, first with a haul of silverware and certificates at the South African Classic Wine Trophy competition and now with a place among the Top 10 at Chardonnay du Monde in Burgundy, France. Groot Constantia Chardonnay 2013 was the only SA wine included among
MANY WINE lovers can remember when not that long ago most of the big-name Chardonnays from the top white wine cellars in South Africa (and elsewhere) smacked of oak. Heavily wooded Chardonnay became a turn-off, and an increasing number of both casual as well as serious wine consumers preferred wines that hadn’t seen the inside of a barrel when it comes
HEREWITH the 2015 Classic Wine Trophy winners, as awarded by a panel of predominantly French judges at Cape Town’s Taj Hotel who “sought to recognise, reward and promote elegance, balance, finesse, ageability and sense of place”: Bellingham The Bernard Series Basket Press Syrah 2013 – DGB is on a roll Boschkloof Epilogue Shiraz 2012 – New addition to portfolio of
MANY IN FRANSCHHOEK pride themselves on the town’s reputation as a leading sparkling wine producer and the annual Cap Classique & Champagne festival is a marvellous affair. One out of every three cellars in the district produces bubbly, the vignerons promote their Cap Classique route and some of the wineries are specialists who make little or nothing else. And yet…
THE MOST successful wine outfits in and around the town of Robertson in a district that also encompasses Ashton, Bonnievale and McGregor, tend to be those close to the Breede River. And Robertson’s Top 10 producers according to track records spanning the 10 years 2005 to 2014 include some of South Africa’s leading bubbly producers as well as cellars with good
AT THE DAWN of the new millennium there were only 20 or so South African wineries producing sparkling wine according to the traditional or classic method for which the French are famous. Today there are over 100 cellars in the Cape making Cap Classique on a regular or occasional basis. The category has been booming, in part at least thanks
THE NAMES of South Africa’s top wines in each category are included in the 2015 SA Wine Classifications based on consistently good reviews at blind-tastings conducted by experts locally and around the world. Here is how things stacked up when considering the Top 100 SA wines across all types and varieties over the 10 years 2005 to 2015: TOP
THE NAMES of South Africa’s unfortified wine producers currently ranked among the Top 100 are included in the 2015 Classification based on consistently good reviews in blind tastings by panels of experts locally and around the globe. Of these, the country’s 50 most successful cellars – led by Kanonkop, Nederburg and Vergelegen – are spotlighted below. Bergkelder (Fleur du Cap) –
BASED ON THE best track records in 26 local and international blind-tasting forums over the past 10 years, the South African Wine & Cellar Classifications celebrate the country’s leading outfits – those who are regularly on top form, their product judged top-notch again and again, year after year. To be eligible for the Classification, updated annually since 2004, a wine must
