IT IS ESTIMATED that as of 2024 the two to three dozen organic wineries in South Africa account for less than 1% of the country’s total production. That’s according to Organic Wines SA, a new association “encompassing the core, established, certified-organic wine estates”, with the objective being “to broadly market
IT WAS NOT that long ago that Domaine des Dieux was making headlines with Chardonnay, scoring 96 at the Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK, winning the trophy for best wine overall at the local Veritas Awards and then striking gold at South Africa’s Trophy Wine Show. But never
AA Badenhorst outside Malmesbury in the Swartland was one of the pioneers of South African bubbly made ‘the original way’ invented by the French in the 16th Century. Vondeling of Paarl was another, their Rurale reported to be the first local wine officially recognised as having come about according to
FOR THE Ferreiras to call the second super-premium wine from their Stellenbosch estate ‘Tokara Simonsberg Cabernet Sauvignon’ is intriguing. The vines that the grapes come from for this single-varietal wine are planted on the slopes of the Simonsberg, but the same applies to other Cabernets from Tokara that carry the
Caroline’s 2024 edition of her annual White Wine & Cap Classique Review, hailed as one of the most prestigious tasting events on the South African wine calendar, will be staged on Thursday 12 September in the Members’ Lounge at the DHL Stadium alongside Fritz Sonnenburg Road in Green Point,
BESIDES the incredible achievement of Stellenrust, who won three of the Top 10 awards for the second year in succession, the results of the 2024 Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Challenge organised by the Chenin industry association of South Africa also shone the spotlight on two more producers who picked up
SOUTH AFRICA’S top-rated wines during the six months to date that are priced at under R150 a bottle – March to August 2024. These are the most highly recommended of the highly recommended by the top wine tasting panels in terms of what’s on offer at below this price ceiling
NO SURPRISES among the 2024 Absa Top 10 Pinotage trophy winners. They all have good pedigrees, so to speak, with those having top track records over the past 10 years in terms of the SA Wine Classification including Beeslaar, Diemersdal Reserve, Flagstone Writer’s Block, Francois van Niekerk, Kanonkop and La
A 96-POINT rating for a blended white from Somerset West, scores of 95/100 for three other white combos from cellars in Constantia, Durbanville and Stellenbosch, and ditto for a Durbanville Sauvignon Blanc as well as a red blend from Paarl. See below for the names of the most highly recommended
HOW ABOUT THAT!! While the good people at Spier in Stellenbosch were introducing Farmer Angus, the new flagship range among their organic wine offerings, another of their organic-certified wines was impressing British wine masters at the other end of the price spectrum. Highlights of the 2024 Global Chenin Blanc Masters
DEMORGENZON, Kleine Zalze and Spier of Stellenbosch, Leeuwenkuil of Paarl, Lomond of Gansbaai in Cape Agulhas, Saronsberg of Tulbagh, Survivor from Overhex in Worcester… Names regularly associated with top Shiraz from South Africa over the past 10 years that got the nod once again to be included among the Top
ONE OF JUST two dozen or so farms in South Africa producing wines officially certified as organic, Springfontein outside Stanford has been one of the standout estates between Hermanus and Gansbaai for a couple of decades for a number of reasons, one of which is their Pinotage. Winner of the
