THE 2017 Signature Red Blend Report on Winemag.co.za follows the assessment of 82 combos from 62 producers – Shiraz-led Rhöne style, Pinotage-driven Cape Blends and various other alternatives to the Bordeaux model typically moulded around Cabernet or Merlot, sometimes Cabernet Franc. By the end of the competition, the panel of judges – Winemag’s Christian Eedes (chair) with Wine Cellar’s Roland Peens and
THE 2017 Winemag Report on SA Merlot involved the assessment of 67 wines from 50 producers and culminated in five wines rated 90-plus (see below). Published in association with the industry’s producer body that goes by the name of the Merlot Forum, the full report posted on Winemag.co.za states that: “Local Merlot often makes for less ambitious and less expensive wines
FOR THE third annual South African Bordeaux-Style Red Blend Report by Winemag.co.za, see here. There were 60 wines from 45 producers assessed by a panel comprising the website’s editor Christian Eedes (chair) with Roland Peens and James Pietersen of the Wine Cellar in Observatory, Cape Town. Twenty-five wines were rated 90-plus, with Thelema Rabelais 2013 emerging as the trio’s favourite
INTERESTING results there were from the 2017 Winemag tasting of South African Cabernet Sauvignon. From a line-up of 65 Cabs that producers were invited to submit for assessment, panel chair Christian Eedes together with fellow judges Roland Peens and James Pietersen of Cape Town merchants Wine Cellar found 15 beauties they regarded as ‘excellent’ – but none great enough to warrant
Full Report: Winemag’s 2017 SA Cabernet Sauvignon Report sponsored by financial services company Prescient
WHAT TO make of Winemag.co.za’s 2016 Riscura White Hot Wine Awards? Of the 35 entries from nearly as many of the Cape wine cellars blending Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, none scored lower than 86/100 (very good) despite some being criticised as clumsy, “planky”. That 15 scored 90-plus out of 100 (excellent to outstanding) was a solid endorsement of the quality and interest value
THERE were 59 wines from 46 cellars entered for Winemag.co.za’s 2016 Riscura Red Hot Wine Awards for South Africa’s Bordeaux-Style red blends. As to be expected, perhaps, most of the top scores went the way of Stellenbosch outfits – the exceptions being Diemersdal in Durbanville, Creation on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge between Hermanus and Caledon, and Groot Constantia, whose 2013 Gouverneurs Reserve was judged
THE 2013, white version of Faithful Hound from Stellenbosch winery Mulderbosch was the top-scoring wine in the 2015 ‘Riscura White Hot Wine Awards’ staged by Winemag.co.za. The ‘Hound’ was made from Franschhoek Semillon and Elgin Sauvignon Blanc, with a couple of 100% Elgin entries – Oak Valley Mountain Reserve 2011 and Highlands Road Sine Cera 2013 – also excelling in this competition
THE RESULTS of Winemag.co.za’s Riscura ‘Red Hot Wine Awards’ confirmed the good credentials of numerous Bordeaux-style blends from the Cape – including a couple priced at around a third of what the top-rated wines are going for and a helluva lot less than the winner of the competition. In the final taste-off the honours went to the Mvemve Raats de Compostella
YOU MIGHT well wonder why Rustenberg Peter Barlow was excluded from the line-up for Winemag.co.za’s 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon report, i.e. given the wine’s great track record over the past 10 years, given that it was scored 5 Stars in the 2014 edition of the report and then chosen as the international judges’ overall favourite at this year’s Trophy Wine Show. You might also wonder
WHAT THE inaugural RE:CM 10 Year Old Wine Awards did not do was to confirm what many believe to be true, namely that all red wine improves with age. Because, of course, it’s not true. What the taste-off did serve to do was to highlight a whole bunch of wines that have withstood the test of time, gone the distance
