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 the farm was quite recent […]
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 edition of Platter’s South African […]
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 district east of the Swartland, […]
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. Very few of the country’s […]
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 their No. 2 blend. Again […]
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, which was a 97-pointer at […]
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 of the most prestigious wine […]
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 – together with the cellar locations […]
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 – together with the cellar locations […]
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 the back of beyond, priced […]
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 Noirs 2018 from the Elgin […]
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 that it was a trophy […]