Posts
Reviving the tradition of SA fortified and sweet wines…
Mike Froud
2025-12-18
OVER 150km / 1½hr drive from Cape Town, at the beach with not a vineyard in sight, The Saldanha Wine & Spirit Co of Adi ...
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Kaapzicht, Capensis, Meerlust get the thumbs-up from CWG
Mike Froud
2025-12-12
IT STANDS to reason that because members of the Cape Winemakers Guild include a number of South Africa's top cellarmasters, and as admission is by ...
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Arum at Boschendal an experience shaped by fire n farm
Mike Froud
2025-12-05
THE ARUM Restaurant at Boschendal is the newest dining experience at this estate in Franschhoek on the R310 to/from Pniel and Stellenbosch. At the time ...
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What more appropriate Pinotage to end the centenary with
Mike Froud
2025-12-02
GUARDIANS of the Pinotage legacy. That's how they refer to themselves at the Bellevue Wine Estate in Bottelary, Stellenbosch. It's from this farm, now owned ...
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Best Value SA Wine Champs 2025 – Top-Rated @ Under R100
Mike Froud
2025-11-28
FAIR AND SQUARE. No punches pulled… The trouble with best value competitions specifically for wines below a particular price ceiling concerns the preconceptions and bias ...
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Top South African wines according to top panels in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-27
SEVEN CATEGORIES of top wines from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ...
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Most highly rated Cap Classique sparkling wine in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-27
THE TOP Cap Classique sparkling wine from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ...
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South Africa's most highly rated Shiraz / Syrah in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-27
THE TOP Shiraz/Syrah from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ‘blind', i.e. labels ...
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South Africa's most highly rated Sauvignon Blanc in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-27
THE TOP Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ‘blind', i.e. ...
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South Africa's most highly rated Pinotage in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-27
THE TOP Pinotage from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ‘blind', i.e. ...
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South Africa's most highly rated Chenin Blanc in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-27
THE TOP Chenin Blanc from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ‘blind', ...
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South Africa's most highly rated Cabernet Sauvignon in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-26
THE TOP Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ‘blind', ...
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South Africa's most highly rated Chardonnay in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-11-25
THE TOP Chardonnay from South Africa as rated 96+ locally or internationally in 2025 by one or more of the respected panels tasting ‘blind', i.e. ...
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Pinotage a variety that Koelenhof Winery is rather good at
Mike Froud
2025-11-24
FROM a vineyard that recently turned 50, the current-release 2022 Stellenbosch 1679 Old Vine Pinotage is probably the best vintage of this wine since the ...
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Stellenbosch 1679: where history and fine wine(s) meet
Mike Froud
2025-11-21
Talk about a success story! Launched in 2019, the first of Koelenhof Winery’s flagship Stellenbosch 1679 range was the 2017 Bush Vine Chenin Blanc. Soon ...
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Chenin and Shiraz top-score in Platter's 2026 SA Wine Guide
Mike Froud
2025-11-20
TWO WINES scored 99 points on their 100-point scale. A first for Platter's South African Wine Guide. Most highly rated in the 2026 edition, the ...
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Top white wine at Veritas Awards from cellar within a cellar
Mike Froud
2025-11-18
WITHIN the large Perdeberg outfit in the north-western reaches of South Africa's Paarl district there's a boutique cellar where dry-farming (unirrigated) culminates in two special ...
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Delaire Graff and Whalehaven shine at Chardonnay Masters
Mike Froud
2025-11-17
SOUTH AFRICA'S good showing at the 2025 Global Chardonnay Masters in the UK was remarkable for a number of reasons. Among the gold medallists announced ...
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Perdeberg’s Endura: celebrating endurance in every sip
Mike Froud
2025-11-15
At the heart of Perdeberg’s winemaking philosophy lies a profound respect for resilience, and nowhere is that spirit more beautifully captured than in the Endura ...
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Neil Ellis Whitehall Chardonnay '22 getting better and better
Mike Froud
2025-11-11
THE GRAPES for négociant Neil Ellis's Whitehall Chardonnay don't come from the same vineyard that was used originally, but the Elgin beauty is as delightful ...
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Cape Bordeaux-style blend that had Veritas judges beaming
Mike Froud
2025-11-04
THE TOP-RATED wine going into the final round of judging at the 2025 Veritas Awards – the biggest, longest-running wine competition in South Africa where ...
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14 wine farm restaurants lauded in SA Gourmet Guide 2026
Mike Froud
2025-10-28
ONCE AGAIN the food critics have spoken – those whose votes count towards South Africa's JHP Gourmet Guide. And once again, La Colombe at Silvermist ...
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Taste the very finest at Caroline’s White Wine Review
Mike Froud
2025-10-26
Caroline’s 2025 edition of her annual White Wine & Cap Classique Review, one of the most prestigious tasting events on the South African wine calendar, ...
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First definitive book on South African Sauvignon Blanc
Mike Froud
2025-10-24
For the first time, the story of South Africa’s most popular white wine cultivar has been brought together in a single publication: The Story of ...
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Veritas Awards revisited… The scores of all the double golds
Mike Froud
2025-10-22
WELL, 99% of them… A few of the wine producers who entered the 2025 Veritas Awards and went on to win double gold either didn't ...
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Great Sauvignon Blanc from across the Cape – ‘Top 10' in 2025
Mike Froud
2025-10-16
“FOUR VINTAGES. Wooded and unwooded. Three wards and six districts across three regions. This is the story of the 2025 FNB Sauvignon Blanc SA Top ...
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Perold wins at Veritas '25… But what was it up against?
Mike Froud
2025-10-14
NO MEAN FEAT! The most highly rated of over 1200 entries in the 2025 edition of the longest-running and biggest South African wine and spirit ...
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The humble Duke of Wellington a Top 10 Pinotage at R80pb
Mike Froud
2025-10-11
IT'S SURPRISING to find neither Kanonkop nor Rijk's among the winners of an Absa Top 10 – such are their good track records in this ...
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Top Shiraz from among smallest, highest blocks in Constantia
Mike Froud
2025-10-07
WINNER of the trophy for best South African red wine at the 2025 International Wine Challenge, the Beau Constantia Stella 2022 was released some months ...
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12 bottles of Mullineux Semillon sell for R50K – CWG Auction
Mike Froud
2025-10-06
THE 2024 VINTAGE of Mullineux ‘The Gris' Semillon WO Swartland fetched the top price at the 2025 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction conducted by Strauss & ...
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