WAITING AND WONDERING… First the publishers put the word out that the Winery of the Year in their 2021 edition of Platter’s SA Wine Guide will be announced to the world via Facebook and Instagram on the evening of 11 November, South African time, but with subscribers permitted to view the “full results” via their website. Then they announced that,
IT WAS AS recently as 2012 that British Master of Wine Richard Kershaw established his business in Elgin to make world-class Chardonnay, Shiraz and Pinot Noir that would show a sense of place. Today he is widely acknowledged as one of the top producers in South Africa, one with an academic leaning, a bent for geography, and the labels
IT WAS IN 1694 that Rust en Vrede was established among the foothills of what became known as the Helderberg area of the Stellenbosch winelands. The Engelbrecht family have been the proprietors since the late 1970s, and for over 40 years the farm has been one of South Africa’s leading producers, specialising in red wines. The ‘Estate’ blend of
THE CONTENTIOUS issue of wine ratings and awards continues to flare up from time to time, with outspoken wine lovers, wine scribes, critics and judges at odds with each other to the point of disbelief, even outrage. The problem? Firstly, there’s not enough consensus regarding which scoring system to use – star ratings aside, there are different versions of the
FROM A SMALL block of seriously old, gnarled and twisted Semillon bush vines planted in the Franschhoek valley circa 1905, grapes for The Pilgrimage Semillon are in very short supply. Taken down the road to Duncan Spence’s Rickety Bridge estate, the fruit is entrusted to cellarmaster Donovan Ackerman and his team in coming up with a very limited edition, less than
HUMBLE, respect for the land, with a sense of place, small scale, a family affair. He is the winemaker, she is the manager, their children share their names with the vineyards, and the wines are good, very good. No bells and whistles at this boutique outfit in the middle of the Hemel-en-Aarde – above the Valley proper, below the
A MAGICAL place. At the end of a dirt track, up against one of the Hawequa mountains. Rustic, at one with nature, farm animals, oak trees, metal sculpture of a maiden, gurgling stream and a rock pool, spirits aplenty and some secrets no doubt… The Upland Organic Estate is where the first school in Wellington was located a couple
“DO YOU KNOW how hard it is to sell a bottle of Viognier in South Africa,” said the fellow behind the counter of the neighbourhood wine shop, explaining why they hardly ever stocked it. “Not any more,” said the customer, who’d been enquiring about the Ridgeback, hunting for the 2018 vintage, in vain. “Yeah, heard it just got 5
A SIGN OF THE TIMES! You can no longer find a really good Cap Classique bubbly at under R100 a bottle and it won’t be long before the same applies to various other categories – white and red, dry and sweet. In the 2020 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide published this month, around 350 wines were in the
LONG GONE are the days when a 5 Star rating was the ultimate accolade in Platter’s South African Wine guide, one of the very few publications in the world of wine still carrying stars to signify levels of distinction. The book and the online platform now also include scores according to a 100-point system but the powers that be can’t
PLATTER’S South African Wine Guide 2020 includes 5 Star ratings for 125 “classics” from across the country’s winelands – all scored 95+ on a 100-point scale. 5 STAR LAUREATES AA Badenhorst Dassiekop Steen 2018 AA Badenhorst Kelder Steen 2018 Alheit Magnetic North Chenin Blanc 2018 Anthonij Rupert Cabernet Franc 2013 Cape of Good Hope Laing Groendruif 2016 (Semillon, Anthonij
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED in Platter’s South African Wine Guide, an outstanding review on Winemag, then platinum at the Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK. Tokara Director’s Reserve 2016. So consistently good over the years. One of the Top 10 white blends in the SA Wine Classification, Top Wine SA Hall of Fame, Top 20 in the SA Cellar Classification.
A WINE you have to try, if you haven’t already. Once experienced, it’s one of those South African reds that wine lovers want to revisit in one form or another every vintage, at least. Cabernet Franc from Raats! There’s the Raats Dolomite, the flagship Raats Family and the Eden High Density Single Vineyard. And at under R200pb, the Dolomite
SO CONSISTENT! None of South Africa’s other great white blends have been as highly rated for as long. With their Bordeaux-style Sauvignon Blanc Semillon combo, Vergelegen hasn’t missed a beat, so to speak. Anglo American’s flagship white wine from their estate on the slopes of the Helderberg in Somerset West has been a hit since the maiden vintage 2001 right
THE WINELANDS of Tulbagh are best known for Cap Classique, Pinotage and Shiraz. Or vice versa, you could say. And when it comes to Shiraz from this district in the Upper Breede River Valley, Saronsberg is second to none. From one of the Top 20 cellars in the country, both the Rhône-style blend Full Circle and the single-varietal Shiraz are among
5 STARS in Platter’s Guide, Platinum at the Michelangelo Awards, one of the Top 10 in the Cape Port Challenge, Gold at the Veritas Awards, and still so young. From Calitzdorp, South Africa’s Port Capital in the Klein Karoo comes the 2016 vintage of De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve, a wine with Hall of Fame credentials for as long as we can
“BRIGHT GOLD colour with brioche, buttered toast and apple pie nose. The fine bubbles are creamy on the rounded, full palate. Intense with a silky-smooth long finish. A joy!” These are the tasting notes of the judges at the 2018 International Wine & Spirit Competition who considered Villiera Monro Brut 2012 the best of over 200 sparkling wine entries from around
NINETY of the wines reviewed in the 2019 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide by Diners Club have been rated as ‘South African Classics’, awarded Five Stars and scored 95 points or more on a 100-point scale. Of these, all assessed by a panel of tasters judging blind (labels out of sight), 25 were honoured as Wines of the
THE LATE Giulio Bertrand established a tradition at his Morgenster wine and olive farm in Somerset West of releasing Bordeaux-style reds only when they have had the benefits of ageing, although he and his winemakers weren’t averse to strutting the qualities of their beauties in their youth, too. So it is again with the 2014 Estate Reserve, a small quantity of
99/100 in PLATTER’S 2018 Nederburg Two Centuries Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 Platter’s Red Wine of the Year The Foundry Grenache Blanc 2015 Platter’s White Wine of the Year Klein Constantia Vin de Constance Natural Sweet 2013 Platter’s Unfortified Dessert Wine of the Year Beaumont Starboard NV (Port) Platter’s Fortified Dessert Wine of the Year 98/100 in PLATTER’S 2018 Cederberg Shiraz 2015
