RECORDS APLENTY! There were five bottles up for grabs at the Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction held in Johannesburg on 14 September 2021. All South African wines, ranging from a 34-year-old dessert to one from a barrel first filled in 1800 – some buyers in the room, some bidding online and others phoning through. Never before had anybody paid
Read moreTOP 10 IN the 2021 Winemag Pinotage Report (SA), gold medallist at the 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards (UK) and trophy laureate in the Pinotage Association’s 2021 Absa Top 10 competition. What an impressive beginning for Francois van Niekerk’s first vintage (2019) under his own label – a very limited release produced when not busy as cellarmaster at Wellington Wines
Read moreBRING OUT the tasting glasses! Just days after turning a page on the calendar, word came down the grapevine that new wine festivals have been planned and that some of the old favourites are making a comeback, having shut up shop during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Besides the many and varied tastings and auctions being staged by specialist wine
Read more2L BOX or 750ml bottle, no doubt the 2021 Darling Cellars Reserve Pyjama Bush was what many SA pink wine lovers began clamouring for after it was named Best in Show at Rosé Rocks 2021. As the winner of the inaugural Allan Mullins Award for the top-scoring entry in the competition, it’s made from Sauvignon Blanc and Grenache and sells
Read moreDOES IT MATTER to you if the vines on which the grapes grew are young or old? How adventurous are you when it comes to the type of grape or the name of the cellar? What do you think about Pinotage? These are just some of the areas covered by the Great Big Wine Survey in an effort by The
Read moreIS IT JUST a figment of the imagination or does that bottle of Stellenbosch 1679 stand out front and foremost among the 2021 Absa Top 10? Picture (above) courtesy of the Pinotage Association, convener of the competition… Certainly the maiden vintage of the Pinotage flagship from Koelenhof Winery has attracted quite a bit of attention during the year, having also earned
Read more“SOUTH AFRICAN Syrah can no longer be neatly pigeonholed,” says Winemag editor Christian Eedes in the 2021 Prescient Shiraz Report. “Expect everything from delicate, very fine, to ultra-glossy, rich wines – and the Shiraz/Syrah distinction is no longer really a clue to what’s inside the bottle.” There were 96 entries from 75 producers located in various areas of the Cape
Read morePORSELEINBERG was South Africa’s star of the show at Strauss & Co’s August 2021 fine wine auction. The Rhône-themed line-up included the flagships of numerous top producers in the Cape winelands and France, with the local favourites including De Trafford of Stellenbosch, Mullineux and Porseleinberg of Riebeek-Kasteel as well as The Sadie Family of the Paardeberg outside Malmesbury. The top
Read moreTHE SECOND annual Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Wine Awards were contested by 42 producers who submitted 64 entries from various areas in South Africa, primarily from the Walker Bay district (24), Elgin (16) and Stellenbosch (6). Incredibly, four of the five winning producers in 2021 (see below) were among the previous winners in 2020, albeit with just a
Read moreWHAT TO MAKE of Diemersdal… A Sauvignon Blanc specialist. A Pinotage specialist. A good all-rounder. With a pretty decent ‘Farm Eatery’ to lunch or dine at in the winelands of Durbanville… Short of energy they’re not. In fact the Louw family and their team sometimes seem at risk of over-stretching themselves, regularly adding to the range and tweaking their strong
Read moreIN A SOMEWHAT quiet build-up, the names of the finalists in the Pinotage Association’s 2021 Absa Top 10 competition were disclosed via social media without so much as a tweet! Twenty wines from 16 producers – Beeslaar, Beyerskloof, Diemersdal and Rijk’s each making the cut with two of their beauties among the many entries from various parts of the Cape winelands.
Read moreHOW ABOUT THAT! Two of South Africa’s top-scoring wines in the 2021 Prescient Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report come from cellars in Stellenbosch Kloof, the third from a winery a bit further west of the town centre, where Stellenbosch meets Kuils River. 96 points for DeMorgenzon Maestro Red 2017: “Extraordinary. Profound.” 95 points for Overgaauw Tria Corda 2017 and Zevenwacht
Read moreWITH MUCH more focus these days on the name of a cellar in Paarl than that of the producer or the name it trades under, the label is an artwork in itself. Warshay Investments’ KWV Cathedral Cellar Sauvignon Blanc has been a friend of discerning wine lovers for many years, ranking among the Top 20 in the South African Wine Classification.
Read moreNO OTHER SHIRAZ from South Africa has been as successful on the world stage in 2021 as the 2018 vintage from the team at the Cederberg cellar of David Nieuwoudt: Highly Recommended in Platter’s SA Wine Guide; one of the Top 10 gold medallists at Syrah du Monde in France; one of 12 champions in the Shiraz SA Challenge;
Read moreIT WAS inevitable, after another round of prohibition in South Africa, once wine sales were allowed again end-July 2021 at Lockdown Level 3 in terms of the COVID-19 Disaster Restrictions, top priority among those needing to stock up again was to look for the bargains on offer. People needed to get a case of something / anything decent onto those
Read moreANOTHER Strauss & Co Fine Wine (and Spirit) Auction done and dusted, another look at the sensational sweet wines of the world, cause to reflect once again on South Africa’s biggest names when it comes to Natural Sweet, Noble Late Harvest, Straw Wine and fortifieds. The thing is, while there are quite a number Classified as top Cape dessert wines
Read moreTHE ONLINE award presentation was a rather dumbed-down affair, not without technical hiccups, but the panel of judges for the 2021 Challenge convened by the industry association Shiraz SA was strong on experience. Among the selectors were Cape Wine Masters Andy Roediger (chair for the ninth year) and Paul Benadé, cellarmasters Frans Smit (Spier) and Richard Kershaw MW, as well
Read moreIT TOOK OVER six weeks following the CFRWA in Stellenbosch on 22 May 2021 for the final final results of the bidding to be released, addressing the confusion surrounding an earlier set of unaudited figures and a period during which some producers whose bottles and cases came under the hammer were not sure what their wines had sold for. See
Read moreAMAZINGLY, given the ramifications of COVID-19 disaster restrictions internationally, there was a record number of entries from producers in 56 countries vying for a top spot in the Decanter World Wine Awards (UK). The 2021 edition of the competition was contested by 18 094 wines, assessed by nearly 170 experts including 44 Masters of Wine and 11 Master Sommeliers. Over
Read more10 000 WINES from 46 countries, more than 300 judges on the panels tasting ‘blind’, labels out of sight, nine days of deliberation… Belgium’s international Concours Mondial du Bruxelles is one of the world’s largest wine competitions, and while the event was dominated by France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, South Africa came away with seven Grand Gold medals, 16 golds
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