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
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
THE WINE is “herbaceous” and a whole lot more according to the judges who liked it so much that a trophy was awarded to the producers Villiera for best wooded Sauvignon Blanc on show – the international Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2023, a competition based in Brussels, with the tasting
R44 555 was the second-highest price paid to date for a rare bottle of the GS Cabernet 1966 – the highest being R91 040 in 2021 – and/but no other South African wine came close in terms of demand for what was on offer at the Strauss & Co auction in
JUST THREE months into 2023 and international panels of wine experts have found more than a dozen South African delights from various corners of the Western Cape that are selling for under R100 a bottle. In the first quarter of the year, 150 of the country’s wines received good to
AT THE FIRST Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction of 2023, The Sadie Family’s red blend Columella fetched the highest prices paid for Cape beauties during a sale of collectables from the Rhône Valley, France, and Rhône-style offerings from Australia, the USA and South Africa. Most in demand of all
AT THE TIME of writing, there were plenty of South Africa’s highly rated wines priced at under R100 a bottle that were not yet sold out – highly rated by one or more of the top panels, with the prices, vintages and availability re-checked during the past few days. Included
THE LIMIETBERG can seem somewhat unreal at times. The light can play tricks on the mountains above those green valleys, although the rocky slopes can indeed be pretty red. Blood red even. Hence the name of the flagship Malbec from Doolhof Wine Estate in Wellington – the ‘Bloedklip’ 2018 having
THE SWARTLAND Survivor Pinotage had impressed for quite a while before the appointment of Pierre Wahl as cellarmaster in January 2022. So much to look forward to in due course with ‘The Pope of Pinotage’ now in charge. After four years at the Friedman family’s Môreson cellar in Franschhoek, followed
IT WAS ‘all’ about Alheit at Strauss & Co’s ‘Young Guns’ wine auction. Well, Crystallum got a look-in with their Pinot Noir, but otherwise the attention of the big spenders was focused mainly on the Chenin Blancs of winemaker Chris Alheit – he who is based on the Ridge in
