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Tuscan-inspired Bordeaux-style Collector’s Red of note
Every three months, members of Caroline’s Quarterly Wine Club look forward to more new discoveries from top South African producers. “Wine lovers can sit back ...
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South Africa excels among ‘Chardonnays of the World'
IT'S HAPPENED again… And no doubt once more there will be naysayers, people who can't believe their eyes and ears, and yet… The humble, big-volume ...
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Pinotage on the menu is a thing at the Beyerskloof bistro
PINOTAGE, Pinotage, Pinotage… At the Truter family's Beyerskloof Wine Estate in Stellenbosch, they call themselves “The Home of Pinotage”, and for good reason. On the ...
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Small Parcels of wines with interesting backstories
Every three months, members of Caroline’s Quarterly Wine Club look forward to more new discoveries from top South African producers. “Wine lovers can sit back ...
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Paul Sauer, Columella, Vin de Constance… Auction highlights
STELLENBOSCH, Swartland, Constantia… Wine from Kanonkop, the Sadie Family and Klein Constantia were most in demand as regards South African producers represented at Strauss & ...
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A rather rare, very unusual wine… Cederberg Bukettraube
BUKETTRAUBE can be a lovely aromatic white wine, so why is David Nieuwoudt's outfit among the Cederberg mountains the only top South African producer that ...
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Special Discoveries from across the Cape winelands
Every three months, members of Caroline’s Quarterly Wine Club look forward to more new discoveries from top South African producers. “Wine lovers can sit back ...
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A rather rare, very unusual wine… Aliquid Novi Pinotage
A PINOTAGE that originates in a vineyard unlike any other: 24 double rows of vines planted in a fan-like semi-circle to expose the plants to ...
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SA wine town wine bars… In the villages, on the roadside
STELLENBOSCH, Franschhoek, Paarl, Hermanus, Stanford… Besides those tasting rooms on South Africa's wine farms, among the vines, there are wine bars in the towns of ...
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Boekenhoutskloof Syrah and Sadie Columella star on auction
AT THE timed, online Rhône Theme wine auction conducted by Strauss & Co on 10 February 2025, somebody paid over R8000 for a bottle of ...
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Cape Town wine bars 2025… The promise of a good time
IT'S NOT the same as going to the tasting room on a wine farm in amongst the vines, but sometimes a wine bar in town ...
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The Garland 2020 “silky, effortless” – Platter's No. 1 Cab
THE GARLAND 2020 from Simonsig in Koelenhof-Stellenbosch is the most highly rated Cabernet Sauvignon in the 2025 edition of Platter's South African Wine Guide. Five ...
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How much is too much for a tasting in the Cape winelands?
THERE ARE still some cellars on the Cape wine routes of South Africa where they don't charge you for a sip of their wines, a ...
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Wine Deck in Stellenbosch features chef's ‘unsung heroes'
IT'S A SMALL, narrow outdoor space, but the new Wine Deck at Mill St Bistro in Stellenbosch promises more than you might think at a glance. Where ...
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Top SA wines over the past 10 years – 2025 Classification
THERE ARE wines that impress occasionally with this and that vintage, then there are those that please on a fairly regular basis, and then there ...
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Casual take on fine-dining at La Motte's friendly new brasserie
AFTER a lengthy closure of the restaurant at La Motte in Franschhoek, the family farm of Hanneli Rupert-Koegelenberg re-opened its doors during the 2024/25 festive ...
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The Journal from Diemersdal! Top Pinotage in Platter's Guide
IT WAS scored 95/100 at the 2024 International Wine Challenge in the UK and was then judged best Pinotage reviewed in Platter's 2025 South African ...
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A rather rare, very unusual wine… Springfontein Chenel
AT SPRINGFONTEIN, outside the town of Stanford, the focus is on the South African grape varieties Pinotage and Chenel, albeit that the latter's arrival on ...
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Wild Horseshoe 2023! Top-rated white wine in Platter's Guide
THE MOST highly rated Sauvignon Blanc, the most highly rated white wine and one of the three most highly rated wines overall in the 2025 ...
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Saronsberg Shiraz 2022! Top-rated red wine in Platter's Guide
THE VAN HUYSSTEEN family's Saronsberg Cellar is renowned for a number of different wines, but Shiraz is the speciality on this farm in the Tulbagh ...
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Christine 2017! Top-rated red blend in Platter's 2025 Guide
MANY if not most of South Africa's top red wines released in 2024 are from the 2021 or 2022 vintages – two- or three-year-old wines. ...
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‘Moonshine' picnics, why not – between Hermanus and Stanford
IT'S NOT the first year that picnics have been offered alongside the Maanschijn winery at the Stonefields farm on Route 43 between Stanford and Hermanus, ...
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Constantia Glen's white blend on the mark time and again
WHAT A LOVELY place to relax at on a summer's day with a chilled glass of something good and interesting… We're talking Constantia Glen and ...
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Platter's No. 1 Chardonnay from some of THE coolest vineyards
THE MOST highly rated Chardonnay in Platter's 2025 South African Wine Guide: the 2022 vintage from Iona in the Elgin Highlands. It follows the 2021, ...
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2022 Lothian Chardonnay the latest in an Elgin success story
THE TROPHY winner, the best white wine from South Africa at the 2024 International Wine Challenge in London, UK – one of the biggest, one ...
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South Africa's Red Wines of the Year 2024… Top Wine SA
ALL THE top trophy winners, all the wines scored 96+ and those that were highly rated by two or more of the top panels – ...
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Top Wine SA… South Africa's White Wines of the Year 2024
ALL THE top trophy winners, all the wines scored 96+ and those that were highly rated by two or more of the top panels – ...
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And then there were more seriously good wines at < R150
5 STARS in Platter's 2025 SA Wine Guide, from one of the country's top winemakers in Donovan Rall, using grapes grown on the mountains in ...
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Top 3 in Platter's 2025 Guide from Elgin, Durbanville, Tulbagh
THE TOP-RATED wines in the 2025 edition of Platter's South African Wine Guide – scored 98/100 – are the Cap Classique sparkler Cipher Blanc de ...
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Endura Chenin remarkable in many ways… The origin, for one!
AT THE TIME of writing there were fewer than 400 bottles / 60 cases left at the cellar in Paarl. Which is hardly surprising, given ...
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