ONE OF THE smallest wine stores on the peninsula south of Cape Town – it’s hard to believe that there’s room for over 300 different bottles in this boutique. Nestled among some milkwood trees adorned with fairy lights, Furny’s on Beach Road in Chapman’s Peak Village / Noordhoek is also
THE WEATHERMAN promised sunshine on Sunday 30 April in Cape Town, but would-be picnickers were warned that it could be cloudy on Saturday the 29th, the first day of the Pick n Pay Wine & Food Festival at the Kenilworth Racecourse. Who knew what the weather would do when the
ONE OF the Top 10, opined the judges at Chardonnay du Monde 2023 in France, gold medallist at Mundus Vini 2023 in Germany, also gold medallist at the Global Chardonnay Masters 2022, UK. No other South African Chardonnay has been welcomed with as many such glowing reviews from international panels
THERE WERE only 20 cases of the single-block, single-barrel Cab Franc Challenge winner made available for purchase after results of the 2023 edition of the competition were announced in Stellenbosch. As for the rest of the Anthology, 2020 vintage, “we’ll be drinking to celebrate,” said the producers. “Lucky us.” Convenor
HIGH INFLATION, energy crises and supply-chain disruptions led to higher-than-usual price increases, which, in general terms, led to decreases in consumption and a rise in the value of exports. This was the picture painted by the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV) in their 2023 report on the state
JUST R100 to taste SEVEN current releases at one of THE leading wine estates in South Africa. In fact, there’s no charge to sample these wines if you’re buying a bottle to take home, with a second-label red going for just R135pb, the 2023 rosé less than R100. The top
THE MICHELANGELO wine tastings at Southern Sun’s Rosebank Hotel (JHB) and Garden Court uMhlanga (DBN) in April/May are appealing. Although the timing is rather unusual… Now into its 27th year since the inaugural Michelangelo Awards in 1997, the judging at the biggest competition of its kind in South Africa tends
SA HIGHLIGHTS of the Strauss & Co Wine Auction held mid-May 2023. Billed merely as the private collection of a single owner, the online sale included wines from around the world – the following are those made in South Africa that attracted bids of over R2000 a bottle/750ml. Sadie
THE LATIN word for ‘taste’, Gustus is also the name of a really good-value range of wines from Darling Cellars outside the town on the R315 to Malmesbury, and the 2020 Sauvignon Blanc in the collection is surprising in more ways than one. Surprisingly good quality and interest value, benefitting
SOUTH AFRICA’S wine bars of note! Are there any others that make the cut? Where else across the length and breadth of South Africa… other than at the tasting rooms on the farms themselves… where else is wine the main focus of attention when it comes to what’s in your
BACK IN 2012, the 2010 vintage of The Bernard Series Bush Vine Pinotage in DGB’s Bellingham portfolio earned a trophy at the Decanter World Wine Awards, UK. In 2014, the 2013 vintage was a winner in the Pinotage Association’s Top 10 Competition, Cape winelands. Not long into 2023, the 2019
AMAZINGLY, at the time of writing, it was still not yet sold out. At under R100, the most keenly-priced of the 28 top-scoring Chenin Blancs and Chenin-driven blends in a panel-tasting of 223 South African bottlings reviewed for the international Decanter Magazine. This is one of the bargains of the
