“MERLOT SOMETIMES gets a bad rap for being sweetish, soft and nothing more,” says Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za editor and tasting panel chair. However, “the best examples are really luscious and velvety as only Merlot at its finest is able to be… Its crucial characteristic is not its flavour but its
WHAT TO MAKE of Strauss & Co’s July 2020 online auction of fine South African wines?! For the auction catalogue, click here. Full results of the sale here. There were just three producers involved: ‘first growth’ Kanonkop on the slopes of the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch where they make a range
ACCORDING to the buying guide / cellar-door prices for the panel’s favourites in Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report, Org de Rac of Piketberg in the Swartland could have fielded the best-value entry in the competition at R250 a bottle. On the other hand, the publishers chose to
THE 2020 National Wine Challenge of South Africa – a.k.a. Robin von Holdt’s Top 100 Wines – attracted “well over 500” entries, down on previous years but not bad given the lockdown(s) due to Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in the judges all being locally based, with Greg Sherwood MW
THERE ARE very few if any other sport stars in the world whose wine is as smiled-upon as that of Ernie Els. Not that he’s the sole proprietor of the farm these days, not since 2015 when Baron Hans von Staff-Reitzenstein (LVS Capital) of Germany became a partner in the Stellenbosch
THEY CALL it ‘The Tea Leaf’. On the label, there’s reference to a ‘brew’, and yes, there is a note of tea in the flavour profile. But it’s made from grapes, fermented in tank and barrel, and a rather fine wine at that – a favourite of the Winemag panel
100 SUBMISSIONS from 78 producers was an impressive level of involvement by the South African wine industry in Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report. Most of the top seeds participated, the majority of the country’s benchmark Cabs on the tasting bench for assessment by the panel comprising editor Christian Eedes
IT HAS TO BE one of the most famous quotes to do with wine: “I only drink Champagne when I’m happy, and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and
THERE WAS little fanfare associated with Winemag’s 2020 Cape White Blend Report. Perhaps in part this had to do with the uphill battle to establish a new category which Winemag reasons should hinge on the most widely planted grape vine in South Africa, Chenin Blanc. Some of the country’s finest
“THERE’S SOMETHING strange happening in South Africa’s Semillon vineyards. Green bunches turn red the one year, then back to green the next. Hung like Christmas baubles on gnarled bushvines, the shapeshifting clusters are an enduring mystery” – Malu Lambert talking about Semillon Gris in Decanter (UK). Full article here. One
THE POWERS that be at Winemag.co.za delay the announcement of exactly how the panel rated their South African favourites in the publication’s various category reviews – a Top 10 is all they’ll tell us in each instance until divulging the rankings / scores out of 100 and the names of
THE quality and status of Wine SA at its best is on the up and up, however the size of South Africa’s wine industry is contracting – whether you’re looking at production and sales or the number of farms and cellars. Of course, times are tough in all wine-producing countries.
About
Top Wine SA is your go-to site for South Africa’s top-rated wines and their prices, top-rated wines at under R150 a bottle, other SA wine recommendations, the top SA wine events calendar, news and comment. Home of the SA Wine Classification and the Hall of Fame, keeping tabs on the best track records of the country’s top wines as judged by the top panels locally and internationally. A directory of the country’s top producers as well as where to eat and stay on the top farms, among the vines. And there’s more, much more…
Menu
Copyright 2024 Top Wine SA | Privacy Policy | Website by Webfactory
