DOES IT MATTER to you if the vines on which the grapes grew are young or old? How adventurous are you when it comes to the type of grape or the name of the cellar? What do you think about Pinotage? These are just some of the areas covered by
IS IT JUST a figment of the imagination or does that bottle of Stellenbosch 1679 stand out front and foremost among the 2021 Absa Top 10? Picture (above) courtesy of the Pinotage Association, convener of the competition… Certainly the maiden vintage of the Pinotage flagship from Koelenhof Winery has attracted quite
“SOUTH AFRICAN Syrah can no longer be neatly pigeonholed,” says Winemag editor Christian Eedes in the 2021 Prescient Shiraz Report. “Expect everything from delicate, very fine, to ultra-glossy, rich wines – and the Shiraz/Syrah distinction is no longer really a clue to what’s inside the bottle.” There were 96 entries
PORSELEINBERG was South Africa’s star of the show at Strauss & Co’s August 2021 fine wine auction. The Rhône-themed line-up included the flagships of numerous top producers in the Cape winelands and France, with the local favourites including De Trafford of Stellenbosch, Mullineux and Porseleinberg of Riebeek-Kasteel as well as
THE SECOND annual Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Wine Awards were contested by 42 producers who submitted 64 entries from various areas in South Africa, primarily from the Walker Bay district (24), Elgin (16) and Stellenbosch (6). Incredibly, four of the five winning producers in 2021 (see below) were among
WHAT TO MAKE of Diemersdal… A Sauvignon Blanc specialist. A Pinotage specialist. A good all-rounder. With a pretty decent ‘Farm Eatery’ to lunch or dine at in the winelands of Durbanville… Short of energy they’re not. In fact the Louw family and their team sometimes seem at risk of over-stretching
IN A SOMEWHAT quiet build-up, the names of the finalists in the Pinotage Association’s 2021 Absa Top 10 competition were disclosed via social media without so much as a tweet! Twenty wines from 16 producers – Beeslaar, Beyerskloof, Diemersdal and Rijk’s each making the cut with two of their beauties among
HOW ABOUT THAT! Two of South Africa’s top-scoring wines in the 2021 Prescient Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report come from cellars in Stellenbosch Kloof, the third from a winery a bit further west of the town centre, where Stellenbosch meets Kuils River. 96 points for DeMorgenzon Maestro Red 2017: “Extraordinary.
WITH MUCH more focus these days on the name of a cellar in Paarl than that of the producer or the name it trades under, the label is an artwork in itself. Warshay Investments’ KWV Cathedral Cellar Sauvignon Blanc has been a friend of discerning wine lovers for many years,
NO OTHER SHIRAZ from South Africa has been as successful on the world stage in 2021 as the 2018 vintage from the team at the Cederberg cellar of David Nieuwoudt: Highly Recommended in Platter’s SA Wine Guide; one of the Top 10 gold medallists at Syrah du Monde in France;
IT WAS inevitable, after another round of prohibition in South Africa, once wine sales were allowed again end-July 2021 at Lockdown Level 3 in terms of the COVID-19 Disaster Restrictions, top priority among those needing to stock up again was to look for the bargains on offer. People needed to
ANOTHER Strauss & Co Fine Wine (and Spirit) Auction done and dusted, another look at the sensational sweet wines of the world, cause to reflect once again on South Africa’s biggest names when it comes to Natural Sweet, Noble Late Harvest, Straw Wine and fortifieds. The thing is, while there
