TAKEN BY SURPRISE! Just recently added to the Pongrácz range of Cap Classique bottle-fermented sparkling wines, the non-vintage Blanc de Blancs (white from white) version made entirely from Chardonnay – no Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier – has been quick to find favour among bubbly connoisseurs. The Vertex trophy winner as top-scoring wine overall and the only Chardonnay to win a
Read moreIF THE QUALITY isn’t up to spec, Kleine Zalze won’t bottle their top-of-the-range Family Reserve. There wasn’t a 2011 Shiraz, nor a 2014, but after the current-release 2013 comes the 2015 Family Reserve Shiraz, which will go on sale already highly recommended by panels of experts at first the International Wine Challenge, then the International Wine & Spirit Competition (also
Read morePRODUCED “to exhibit the individuality of South Africa’s indigenous grape in ultimate cellar artistry” – and to honour a dog! Diesel was the name given to a beloved canine friend of South Africa’s Pinotage ambassador Beyers Truter, and it’s the name of the flagship wine from the Pinotage specialists at Beyerskloof, Stellenbosch. Diesel Pinotage has pretty much everything going for
Read moreWHAT’S NOT TO LIKE about the 2018 Stone White blend from Stettyn Family Vineyards, between the mountains on the road between Villiersdorp and Worcester. Won the 2018 Ultra Value Wine Challenge, a double gold blend of Chenin and Sauvignon Blanc, less than 13% Alc, only R39 a bottle from the cellar door! Homestead dating back to 1777. Acquired by the
Read moreTHE 2017 vintages of D’Aria’s Songbird and De Grendel’s Koetshuis are particularly impressive wines in the 2018 FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10, with both already multiple award winners before the latest rounds of applause: the Songbird also won at South Africa’s National Wine Challenge and earned silverware at the International Wine Challenge (UK); the Koetshuis also won gold at the Trophy
Read moreTHE VERTEX trophy for Overall Champion at the 2018 Veritas Awards was presented to JC Le Roux of Distell for their Pongrácz Blanc de Blancs NV Cap Classique. This bubbly, made from Chardonnay in the style for which Champagne is famous, was the highest-scoring wine among the double gold medallists selected from over 1600 entries in this competition convened by
Read moreSEEING IS BELIEVING! Wine lovers might have wondered why, when announcing most of their 2018 results as regards South African entries in September, for some reason the organisers of the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London chose to include Warwick among the few South African wineries singled out for special mention, i.e. even though this Stellenbosch estate wasn’t among the
Read moreTOTAL SALES at the 2018 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction amounted to over R10-million for 2012 cases (6 x 750ml or equivalent), with the average prices of R5 265 per case and R878 per bottle exceeding what was achieved in 2017. The line-up of 48 wines included 31 reds, 14 whites, two Cap Classique sparkling wines and a Cape Port, with the red blend Kanonkop
Read moreSPIER 21 GABLES is a range of single varietal wines, the premium offerings from this Stellenbosch outfit. The name pays tribute to the farm’s Cape Dutch architectural legacy, and forming the cornerstone of the range are a Chenin Blanc and a Pinotage, both included among the Top 10 of their type in the SA Wine Classification, with the portfolio having
Read moreA GOOD YEAR it’s been for Domaine des Dieux up on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, between Hermanus and Caledon. 2018 began with inclusion among the Top 10 bubblies in the SA Wine Classification, then came a gold medal at the Sparkling Wine World Championships in the UK, and now No. 1 at the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge with the 2012 vintage of
Read moreRANKED No. 1 among the highest-scoring entries in the 2018 Ultra Value Wine Challenge was the ‘Stone White’ blend from Stettyn Family Vineyards between Villiersdorp and Worcester. The 2018 vintage of this Chenin Blanc Sauvignon Blanc combo was one of 14 submissions to achieve top ratings from the judges, chaired by Cape Wine Master Ginette de Fleuriot together with British Master
Read moreTHE 2018 FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 Awards will be presented on 10 October. In the meantime, here are the Top 20 to contemplate following completion of the judging – with Kleine Zalze fielding two of the finalists! This is the 11th edition of the competition staged by the South African wine industry’s Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group (SBIG) since the awards were first presented
Read moreGIVEN THE accusations and counter-accusations that have raged on between certain wine fundis of late, you cannot but wonder about the merits of what was being argued and the motivations of those who got involved in the argument one way or another. Core to the debate are issues that have occupied the minds of many scribes and wine enthusiasts the
Read moreTHE FOLKS at Creation on Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge must have mixed feelings about the award for Best Wine Overall in Winemag’s 2018 ‘Tonnellerie-Saint-Martin Pinot Noir Report’. A score of 93 points (out of 100) equates to an “outstanding” wine in the opinion of panellists Christian Eedes (chair), Roland Peens and James Pietersen (both of Cape Town retailer Wine Cellar), all respected judges.
Read moreTIM ATKIN MW! Top international wine critic. Highly respected and awarded. London based. Loves South African wine. Loved by plenty of South African wine producers yearning for a rating of 95-plus and followed by plenty of SA wine lovers who trust his palate. And yet! In his 2018 “attempt to classify the Cape’s best producers, an annual exercise that has
Read moreBEYERSKLOOF of Stellenbosch has been awarded the trophy for best Pinotage in the 2018 International Wine & Spirit Competition, with the judges commending the 2014 vintage of Beyerskloof Diesel for its “great concentration of flavours on the palate, silky smooth texture, and long finish with a hint of chocolate”. The Pinotage specialists were also honoured for their Cape Blend, Faith, among
Read moreWINES FROM Distell, Kanonkop and Groot Constantia were the superstars at the 2018 Nederburg Auction in Paarl, fetching the top prices in highlighting the demand for old reds and sweet wine dating back as far as 1948. Three bottles of 70-year-old Monis Port sold for R21 000, a 50-year-old Chateau Libertas red blend attracted R5000 a bottle, magnums of Kanonkop Pinotage
Read moreIT’S NOT every year that they make a Steytler Pinotage at Kaapzicht: there was one in 2010, but not in 2011; one was made in 2012, but not in 2013, nor 2014; then came the 2015, but no 2016, and it will be a while before the 2017 vintage is released. This is a selection of the best they can
Read moreGold medal at the Global Rosé Masters, Listed in the Sommeliers Selection, double gold medal at Rosé Rocks… No other South African rosé has been as well received in 2018 as the 2017 vintage from Franschhoek winery Holden Manz. The wine is ever-so-slightly wooded, and made in a style that the producers refer to as Provençal – in part, no doubt,
Read moreAT A TIME when many are contemplating the first unwooded Sauvignon Blanc releases from the 2018 vintage, discerning SA wine lovers are including a rather special two-year-old among their choices for lunch or dinner-time enjoyment. Fermented in a combination of oak barrels and concrete ‘eggs’, the 2016 vintage of ‘The Following’ from D’Aria in Durbanville has a lovely complexity and
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