OVER 950 wines later… Convened by the Wine-of-the-Month Club, the American Express Fine Wine Awards is one of the largest competitions of its kind in South Africa (entry fee just R99/wine). In the 2026 edition, tasting ‘blind’, the judges evaluated the entries over six days before settling on 66 gold
HASHER in the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley and Newstead in Plettenberg Bay produced the top-scorers – a red and a bubbly – from South Africa at the 2026 International Wine & Spirit Competition (UK). As in previous editions, the SA gold, silver and bronze medallists at the competition were announced in
IT WAS NOT one of the Quoin Rock winery’s oft-vaunted Black Series Cap Classique bubblies reviewed as ‘Outstanding’ in the July 2026 issue of Decanter Magazine (UK), but rather the more premium Brut Reserve, the 2015 vintage released in 2022/23 and still available at the time of writing for R2K/bottle
THEY WON’T tell us the number of entries received for South Africa’s 2026 National Wine Challenge, convened by Robin von Holdt of Buy Better Wine, and for a while it wasn’t clear just who was on the panel, however… The producers of the winning wines in the last of the
THE WINEMAG panels don’t score many wines 95+, let alone ones that sell for less than R200 a bottle… Of the 45 wines assessed for the 2026 Winemag Pinotage Report, the highest score of 95 points was awarded for three wines in the competition, with two of them, the Cape
THE FIRST really good review of a South African Rosé in 2026 to date! The producer: Aaldering Vineyards in Devon Valley, Stellenbosch. The wine: Women of the World Pinotage Rosé 2025. The panel-rating: gold medal at the Global Rosé Masters in London. The panel of judges: Jonathan Pedley, Patricia Stefanowicz
OF THE 48 entries in South Africa’s 2026 Top 10 Merlot competition, the wine most preferred by the panel of judges was the 2024 Provenance Merlot from L’Avenir on the slopes of the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch. The Judges’ Choice Award winner also offered great value at R140pb – this in
WHAT A PITY that South Africa’s ‘Best in Show’ Stellenbosch Reserve Hangbrug Chenin Blanc 2025 was already ‘sold out’ ex-cellar when the winners of the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards were announced in London. Just R175 a bottle, so perhaps it’s no wonder. Fortunately, there were a number of good
THE 2021 vintage of the flagship Cab from Kleine Zalze in Stellenbosch received such rave reviews in the first half of 2026 that the ‘sold out’ signs went up ahead of schedule – just days after it excelled at the Investec Trophy Wine Show in Paarl, South Africa’s most prestigious
SOME OF the trophy and gold medal laureates at the 2026 Investec Trophy Wine Show will set you back over R500 a bottle – three times that for the most highly rated red. South Africa’s best wines rank with the best from elsewhere in the world and this is being
A CHENIN from the Cederberg and a Cabernet from Delaire Graff in the Banghoek area of Stellenbosch were the ‘top guns’ at South Africa’s 2026 Investec Trophy Wine Show – the most highly rated white and red wines in a competition contested by 650 entries from all corners of the
JUST WEEKS after Kleine Zalze was awarded a trophy for their 2021 Family Reserve Cab at the 2026 International Wine Challenge in the UK, the Stellenbosch producer won gold for this wine at the Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters competition hosted by London publication The Drinks Business. Kleine Zalze was one
