NEW ON the radar. Out of the blue, as it were… The Rangaka family’s M’hudi wine business on their farm in Stellenbosch was founded nearly 20 years ago, but it’s somewhat off the beaten track in the north-western reaches of the district – along the Old Paarl Road in the
THEY MAKE at least half a dozen Chenins at the Stellenrust winery in the Helderberg and another at their boutique ArtiSons cellar in Bottelary. Even the ‘standard’ version (currently R89pb) has won at the Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Challenge before and is one of three Stellenrust wines with such good
SHINING in a line-up of 157 sparklers on the tasting bench at the 2023 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, the 2017 vintage of KWV’s Laborie Blanc de Blancs was judged the best dry bottle-fermented wine made exclusively from Chardonnay and the best wine overall. This on top of the Paarl bubbly
MOST of South Africa’s top-rated wines these days cost over R250 a bottle – more than 300 of the wines scored 93 points plus in 2023 to date are positioned at R300+, with 180 or so at R400+ and over 100 at R500 to R2000. And yet, during the past
IT SELDOM happens that a winemaker has a hand in two Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition laureates in the same year, but what do you know… In 2023 there were two of them: Abrie Beeslaar, cellarmaster behind the winning 2017 vintage from Kanonkop Estate in Stellenbosch and also coming top
WHEN THEY put it like that, it’s hard to swallow… that the “Top 10” Sauvignon Blanc wines of South Africa don’t include even one worthy of a top rating in their book (96+). “Inherently simple,” says Winemag editor Christian Eedes in the publication’s annual report on the category, sponsored by
59 WINES from 49 producers were reviewed for Winemag’s 2023 Report on Cape Bordeaux Red Blends, i.e. combinations of two or more of the varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Delaire Graff’s Botmaskop of Stellenbosch came top in the tasting, although it was scored the same
[metaslider id=”21576″] FROM JANUARY to August 2023, the top panels of wine experts judged some 700 of South Africa’s finest to be at least high silver or gold medal standard. Of these, around 140 were considered 96 points or higher, Best in Class, Top 10 or 12, worthy of grand
[metaslider id=”21576″] FROM JANUARY to August 2023, the top panels of wine experts judged some 700 of South Africa’s finest to be at least high silver or gold medal standard. Of these, around 140 were considered 96 points or higher, Best in Class, Top 10 or 12, worthy of grand
[spacer height=”20px” id=”2″]THERE WERE 30 of the Cape’s wine producers vying for the 2023 Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Awards, which is fairly impressive, given how niche the variety is in the country relative to Cabernet, Shiraz, Pinotage, Merlot… To lay claim, as the organisers do, to having come up
THE RESULTS of the 2023 Shiraz SA Challenge provided plenty of talking points. For example: Flagstone of the Strand/Somerset West grabbed two awards, one for a ‘Dark Horse’ with one of the best track records in the category and the other for a ‘Velvet’ blend that costs what you might
HAVING achieved 95/100 for the current release of their flagship red blend at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London, Constantia Glen went one better with a score of 96 at the last of the biggest competitions of its kind in 2023, the International Wine & Spirit Competition. Constantia Glen
