OF THE 650 wines judged at South Africa’s 2025 Trophy Wine Show, 40 were scored 95+ to earn gold medals (see below), and of those, 23 went on to earn trophies (highlighted in purple below). The most highly rated red wine on show: Stellenzicht Arenite Syrah 2023. The most highly
PRODUCED at Koos Bekker’s estate in Paarl using grapes from the farm’s vineyards below the Simonsberg, Babylonstoren Shiraz has been one of South Africa’s most highly rated expressions of the variety over the past 10 years. Voted among the Top 10 wines at the 2025 edition of the international Syrah
FOR THE FIRST time in five years, South Africa won one of the most prestigious awards at the International Wine Challenge in London, with Le Grand Domaine of Devon Valley in Stellenbosch presented with the trophy for best Cabernet Sauvignon on show at the 2025 edition – ahead of the
BABYLONSTOREN and Cederberg Wines struck gold at the 2025 (19th) edition of Syrah du Monde, the international competition held in France’s Rhône Valley. There were 207 wines (from 22 countries) assessed over two days by 100 judges from around the world, with the 32 gold medallists including South Africans Babylonstoren
THE COMPETITION winners in the South African Winemag’s 2024 Prescient Chenin Blanc Report have a history of glowing reviews for their ‘Perdeberg Dry Land Collection Courageous Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc’. Quite a mouthful, with previous vintages of this Paarl bottling earning a gold medal at the Global Wine Masters (2023),
HOW ABOUT THAT! Two wins in succession for the Riebeek Valley Wine Co in the SA Winemag’s annual Prescient Shiraz Report, with the Riebeek-Kasteel winery’s RAAR Shiraz Carbonic Maceration 2024 chosen as the panel’s absolute favourite in 2025 after the 2023 vintage triumphed in the previous competition. Only five 500L
THE GOOD people of Capensis don’t have their own winery, and would rather not say where it is that they’re renting cellar space. But does it matter? These Chardonnay specialists, who use vineyards in various regions of South Africa’s Cape winelands, do their entertaining at ‘Kliphuis’ in the Banghoek valley
IT’S ONE OF the most chic venues in South Africa’s Cape winelands – a classy wine-tasting lounge, bar and terrace as well as a bistro at which to experience top whites, reds and bubblies on their own or while enjoying a good lunch or tapas dinner, inside or out. At
“THEY STOOD toe-to-toe with Hawke’s Bay and Margaret River [of Australia] and all but the finest Burgundy [of France]”. High praise indeed from the panel that assessed 128 South African wines for their Chardonnay report in the May ’25 issue of the UK’s Decanter Magazine. The wines were submitted by
THE FOLLOWING are among the statistics presented by the International Organisation of Vine & Wine in the OIV’s 2025 report on the state of the wine industry internationally (2024 data): South Africa ranked eighth in terms of the world’s major wine producers, down from seventh in the OIV’s 2024 report,
HOW ABOUT THAT! First, that the Pinotage Association put the Grand Pinotage “project” to the test in a blind tasting of the 2019 vintage conducted by Gilbert & Gaillard, based in France. Second, that one of the wines involved rated higher than any Pinotage has done before at a G&G
SO THE RESTAURANT critics have pronounced on the top farms to lunch or dine at in the Cape, among the vines, but which wines from these estates are as good as the food they serve… Here are the most highly recommended reds, whites and other beauties from those South African
