SOME OF South Africa’s top producers are not members of the Cape Winemakers Guild. Admission is by invitation only, and some who have been invited feel that the Guild is not for them. However, most of those who are active CWG members count among the country’s very best, most experienced
THE privately-owned Laborie Estate is down the road from Warshay Investment’s KWV Emporium – both in Paarl, both Cape wineland destinations in their own right, both home to one of South Africa’s Top 10 sparkling Cap Classiques made according to the traditional method for which Champagne is famous. Standout vintages
GRAVITAS, the first of its kind from Constantia Uitsig, a sweet Muscat de Frontignan, vintage 2020, the fourth Constantia dessert wine on the market since Klein Constantia began the renaissance of a style adored by Europe and the UK’s well-to-do in the 18th and 19th centuries. Unfortified but not natural
UNWOODED, scored 95/100 at the Decanter World Wine Awards and 95 points at the International Wine & Spirit Competition, the 2024 Tokara Reserve Elgin Sauvignon Blanc is one of South Africa’s most highly rated SBs in 2025. And a great track record across multiple vintages: one of the Top 5
STILL AVAILABLE at the time of writing, costing just a little bit more than it did a month or so earlier when chosen as the panel’s absolute favourite and scored 96 points in Winemag’s 2025 SA Chenin Blanc Report: The Dry Land Collection Courageous Barrel-fermented Chenin Blanc 2024 from the
The 2020 and 2024 vintages of La Motte’s Pierneef Syrah-driven blend and Pierneef Sauvignon Blanc respectively are more than cellarmaster Edmund Terblanche’s artistic interpretation of the vintage – the 2025 releases also bring a new look and a new name. As a tribute to SA artist Jacob Hendrik Pierneef (1886
JUST A COUPLE of days was all it took. By Wednesday 11 June, the top-scoring white blend at South Africa’s 2025 Trophy Wine Show was “Sold Out” at the cellar in Worcester and at the show’s ‘designated retailer’, Port2Port, i.e. barely 48 hours after the awards presentation on Monday 9
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
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
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
THE NUMBER of wines on the market that are made from seriously old Pinotage vineyards (way over 50 years) edged back up from three to four following the release of the 2023 Heritage Block Pinotage from Herman Coertze’s Meerendal Wine Estate in Durbanville, Western Cape. Meerendal was one of the
