GIVEN THAT over half the number of entries in the 2022 FNB Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10 Competition were made in 2022, i.e. 86 out of 161 wines from 102 producers, it’s perhaps no surprise that this vintage dominated at the awards presentation: six in the Top 10, with 13 in the Top 20. This was despite what some have described
AS THE 2022 WINNER of the only competition in South Africa exclusively for Rosé wines, Groote Post is one of the country’s ‘pink’ wines of the year: • Aaldering Pinotage Rosé 2022 at R225pb ex-cellar, Devon Valley-Stellenbosch: trophy at the Michelangelo Awards (SA) • Allée Bleue Shiraz Rosé 2022 at R90pb ex-cellar, Franschhoek: top of its class at the Shiraz
IT’S A PITY that the Veritas Awards don’t do more to showcase the very best wines of South Africa. Apart from the glorious exception of the Vertex Award presented for the overall champion (the highest-scoring wine in the competition), the furthest the organisers go in presenting a guide to the greatest wines from the Cape winelands is awarding ‘double gold’
SOUTH AFRICA has a number of fine Chardonnay cellars, and that of Paul Clüver on De Rust Estate in Grabouw counts as one of the very best. Pioneers of the Elgin wine district in the Cape South Coast, the farmers, winemakers and business folk on the team also know their stuff when it comes to Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon
WE MIGHT never know whether the pink wine from Aaldering of Devon Valley in Stellenbosch was a contender for one of the 2022 Pinotage Rosé Awards. It might have been interesting to see whether the panel appointed by the Pinotage Association concurred with that at the Michelangelo Awards (SA) who a few weeks earlier had presented a trophy no less
AT THE 2022 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction, Kanonkop CWG Paul Sauer 2019 of Stellenbosch attracted the highest bids on average, i.e. selling for an average price of R2457 per bottle, with Cederberg Teen die Hoog Shiraz 2020 fetching R1861 a bottle on average. Remarkably, however, the white wines in most demand fetched the third- and fourth-highest prices overall, i.e. the
WITH MANY if not all wine competition organisers who honour overall champions at their shows, local and international, the choice has mostly to do with how many awards each producer wins, rather than which are the favourite wines. Yes, usually trophies count more than gold medals, golds count more than silvers, etc, but no, it’s not necessarily a case of
COGNAC, ARMAGNAC, CAPE BRANDY… An acquired taste, some would argue. Thrice as strong as most red and white wines. Aqua vitae, the water of life! Distilled wine, in basic terms, but in its finest form a wonderful spirit savoured in sips. And those bottles… Medicine for the soul! Originating in the vineyards, as they do, the brandies of South Africa
THE PINOTAGE Association’s Perold Absa Cape Blend Competition was named in honour of Professor Abraham Izak Perold, the ‘Father of Pinotage’. The focus is on a category of red blends in which Pinotage is the primary component, and since the inception of the competition, KWV of Paarl has been the most successful entrant by far – eight wins with seven
DOMAINE des Dieux’s win at the 2022 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge was their third, having also been applauded as Best Producer in the 2018 and 2014 editions of the competition organised by South Africa’s Cap Classique Producers Association (CCPA). This time round, the 2016 vintage of Des Dieux Claudia Brut was named best wine overall, following the trophy-winning 2012
FOR MANY of us enjoying the wine routes of South Africa over the festive season in 2022/23, there’ll be a new destination we can’t wait to explore. A Paarl estate opening a new tasting room, a new restaurant, gearing up to use their new cellar for the first time. With just four vintages bottled to date, Brookdale has already attracted
BRING IT ON! October 2022 is brimming with top South African wine events, at least one of which is free… All you have to do to attend ‘That South Coast Show’ put on by the ‘new wave’ winemakers of The Cape South Coast on 4 October is to accept their invitation – just click on the RSVP button and
MANY WOULD wager that GREAT reviews for wines at under R100 a bottle are a thing of the past. Not so according to the judges assessing what was entered for various top panel tastings in 2022 including the Chenin Blanc Challenge, the Michelangelo International Wine Awards and the Top 10 Pinotage Competition – to name just the most recent shows.
IT’S NOT OFTEN that you see wine estates trumpeting about a silver medal, yet the sound of popping corks can get pretty pretty loud when a respected critic or tasting panel awards a score in the 90s – regardless of whether or not it warrants a gold medal, let alone double gold or platinum. It’s amazing how the mind works:
IN THE BACK corner of the Robertson Wine Valley is where the De Jongh family tell you their wine farm Kleinhoekkloof is located. It’s next to the Langeberg Mountains; you get there via Ashton, although it might be closer to Montagu as the crow flies. They’ve been bottling here since 2006, but the Grand Prix Trophy for the top-scoring dry
GO PULPIT ROCK! At just R90pb, the Brink Family Vineyards 2019 from the Pulpit Rock winery in Riebeek West is one of the standouts among the 2022 Absa Top 10 Pinotage Award winners. Windmeul of Paarl is the closest contender in terms of ‘best bang for your buck’ – R150pb for their 2019 Reserve but a track record impressive enough
ALMOST as newsworthy as the record-breaking price of over R58K fetched for a 500ml Vin de Constance 1987 at the ‘Cape Heritage Wine’ Auction by Strauss & Co end-August 2022, was the ‘bargain’ price that the 1957 Chateau Libertas went for. A 750ml bottle of this old Chateau Lib blend from Cinsaut and Cabernet Sauvignon that came out of the
A NUMBER of things come to mind on perusal of the 2022 Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge results. One is how many of the top wines originate in old vineyards, four of which include vines over 50 years old. Another is the depth of quality shown by the leading producers, some of them shining with Chenins other than
SA Pinot Noir Report NO DOUBT some of the folks up and down the Hemel-en-Aarde between Hermanus and Caledon were a little twitchy after the results of South Africa’s 2022 Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Wine Awards went public. Only one of the winners was from that area of the country most renowned for this variety. Many of the entries
SURE THERE ARE other delightful reds and whites in their range, but it’s Shiraz that they specialise in at Saronsberg. Surely the leading wine outfit in the district of Tulbagh, their Shiraz and Shiraz-based blend ‘Full Circle’ easily clear the bar for inclusion among their respective Top 10s in the South African Wine Classification – shoo-ins for the Top Wine SA
