THISTLE & WEED is what winemaker Stephanie Wiid and viticulturist Etienne Terblanche call their boutique cellar alongside the Jonkershoek Road in Stellenbosch – on the Leef op Hoop Farm before you enter the valley en route to the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve. They are Chenin Blanc specialists who also have a
IT WAS A tussle between Meerlust and Kanonkop for the highest price fetched by South African wine at Strauss & Co’s ‘Bordeaux Auction’ conducted online mid-April 2024 – R4885pb paid for both a Meerlust Rubicon from the 1980s and a Kanonkop Paul Sauer not yet 10 years old. As for
SOUTH AFRICA’S old-vine wine certification requires that the plants should be more advanced in years than the majority, however some would argue that the authorities haven’t gone far enough. To be labelled as ‘Certified Heritage Vineyards’, the brains trust behind the Old Vine Project feel that 35 years is a
GENERALLY SPEAKING, these are not wines submitted for reviewing by any of the top panels locally or internationally – although occasionally there are some wonderful exceptions to the rule. In most cases they’re presented as the very best that can be produced in these cellars, finish and klaar, i.e. according
“Fairview Wine and Cheese unveils revolutionary ‘Goat Labour’ initiative” “In a move that has raised eyebrows and provoked uproar among traditionalists, Fairview Wine and Cheese, under the visionary leadership of Charles Back, has announced a groundbreaking strategy to tackle economic challenges head-on. Brace yourselves, because the era of vineyard workers
GLEN CARLOU has been a Chardonnay and Cabernet specialist since 1988. As they put it at the cellar on the slopes of the Simonsberg in Paarl, the conversation is led by ‘Quartz Stone Chardonnay’ and ‘Gravel Quarry Cabernet Sauvignon’ – two naturally-fermented, single-vineyard delights, which at the time of writing
STRAUSS & Co’s wine department was happy with the results of their timed online ‘2014 Vintage’ auction that came to a close on 11 March ’24. Consultant Roland Peens, director of fine wine merchant ‘Wine Cellar’ in Cape Town, reported that the Reserve was R545 150, the Hammer R718 100, Inclusive
ODDLY ENOUGH, not all of the cellars in Wellington are members of the local wine route. Not officially, that is. For example, Mischa Estate to the north and Napier Vineyards on the Bainskloof Road to the east are not part of the ‘Go Wellington‘ movement. Nor is Roodekrantz north-west of
THE Sadie Family of the Paardeberg outside Malmesbury in the Swartland dominated proceedings in terms of the highest prices paid for South African wines at the first Strauss & Co wine auction of 2024, a Rhône Theme sale conducted online. Sadie’s Columella red blend was in particularly high demand, with
THERE ARE wine lovers who are obsessed with pecking orders, rankings, insisting on there being one that is best overall, numero uno. Others, while no less discerning, are relaxed about there being a number of top wines, levels of interest value, degrees of greatness – that when it comes to
LESS THAN R100 a bottle for one of the most consistently highly rated wines over the past 10 years might seem impossible, and yet… While the majority of the 132 Best of The Best in the 2024 South African Wine Classification are priced at over R350 a bottle with 40+
SOUTH AFRICA’S top wines over the past 10 years – as judged by the top panels of experts around the world. An update of the best from the Cape winelands – not just with a single bottling, but time and again. Good to very good reviews for numerous vintages, labels
