“THE WINE stood out for its absolute harmony – spectacular citrus purity with intricate biscuity etchings. Truly pristine” – 2020 Cap Classique Challenge judging convenor Heidi Duminy describing the competition winner Newstead Brut 2015 from Plett. Although, when the Challenge results were announced the name of this champion South African sparkling wine was given as Newstead Blanc de Blancs 2015,
Read morePLETTENBERG BAY winery Newstead Wines has become the first producer outside the traditional Cape winelands to be crowned winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge. Newstead Brut 2015 won a double gold medal, trophy for Best Blanc de Blancs and was the top-scoring Cap Classique overall. This was the 19th Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, sponsored by the Portuguese company celebrating
Read moreIT HAS TO BE one of the most famous quotes to do with wine: “I only drink Champagne when I’m happy, and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it
Read moreFOR THE QUESTIONS, answers and in part heated outbursts that ensued after publication of Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Cap Classique Report, click here. For the full report and reviews of 50 South African sparkling wines made according to the traditional method, click here. Suffice to say: some of the online publication’s readers faulted the findings for being based on a competition
Read moreVICTORY at the 2019 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge went to an eleven-year-old Prestige Cuvée from Boschendal of Franschhoek, the 2008 Jean Le Long Blanc de Blancs – made from Chardonnay, spending five years on the lees (spent yeast) prior to degorgement and another year on the cork prior to release. This bottle-fermented sparkling wine had already earned gold and
Read moreIMPRESSIVE! Winner of the only gold medal awarded to a South African bubbly at the 2019 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships in London, the Cederberg Brut Blanc de Blancs 2014 was favoured above three silver medallists from Graham Beck of Robertson and another from Le Lude of Franschhoek. With less than two hectares of their mountain vineyards planted to
Read morePIETER FERREIRA is synonymous with top Cap Classique and Graham Beck, South African sparkling wine made in the traditional way for which the top brands of Reims, Épernay and elsewhere in the Champagne region of France are world-famous. Some refer to him as ‘Bubbles’ Ferreira, cellarmaster at the Graham Beck outfit in Robertson since Day 1, back in 1990. Many
Read more“BRIGHT GOLD colour with brioche, buttered toast and apple pie nose. The fine bubbles are creamy on the rounded, full palate. Intense with a silky-smooth long finish. A joy!” These are the tasting notes of the judges at the 2018 International Wine & Spirit Competition who considered Villiera Monro Brut 2012 the best of over 200 sparkling wine entries from around
Read moreBASED in the foothills of the highest mountain on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge where ‘Heaven touches Earth’, is Domaine des Dieux, ‘Field of the Gods’. To get to the tasting room, off the R320 between Hermanus and Caledon, involves negotiating a dirt track through the vineyards to up where the views are pretty good – and where it can get pretty windy.
Read moreTAKEN 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 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 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 moreONE OF THE three most topical wines of the Breede River Valley during the first half of 2018 originates half in Robertson, half in Worcester… From the South African wine region that stretches southeast of Tulbagh and Ceres to Bonnievale, northwest of Swellendam, comes the sparkling wine judged best Cap Classique at the National Wine Challenge. Celine Brut NV, which
Read moreGIULIO BERTRAND’S spread in Somerset West is a fine place to visit. The restaurant 95 at Morgenster serves superb, authentic fare with an Italian slant (e.g. great lamb ravioli!) to complement the good wines, a number of which are made from Italian varieties. It’s with French cultivars, however, that Morgenster has had most success on the world stage: the Bordeaux-style
Read moreINCREDIBLE? First a double gold medal at the Michelangelo awards in South Africa and now gold at Chardonnay du Monde in Burgundy, France. At around R56 a bottle, the 2017 Douglas Green Chardonnay is the latest in a string of vintages that have had wine cognoscente doing a double take – the 2016 having also won gold in France, the
Read moreWE ARE NOT crazy about the name of this competition; a case of lost in translation! Effervescents du Monde reminds some of us about the sort of fizzy fruit salts you might take to sort out a bout of indigestion: ENO! But there are plenty of Champagne and other bubbly houses that participate in this ‘Sparkling World’: the 2017 edition attracted over
Read moreAT THE TIME of writing, 46 years after South Africa’s first Méthode Champensoise sparkling wine was made at Simonsig in Stellenbosch (Kaapse Vonkel Brut 1971), the number of Cap Classique bubblies had grown to around 300, produced at some 200 cellars adhering to the traditional method* that dates back to the 17th century and which resulted in the famous wines
Read moreAFTER MUCH anticipation, the trophy laureates at the 2017 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge were announced at an awards function in Cape Town: Simonsig Cuvée Royale Blanc de Blancs 2012 (overall winner), Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut 2011 and Simonsig Woolworths Pinot Noir Rosé 2015, as well as Graham Beck Brut Zero 2005 in the Museum Class for wines no longer on
Read moreTHERE WERE 161 entries in the 2017 edition of Rosé Rocks – 128 still and 33 sparkling Cap Classique. According to the competition chairman, Cape Wine Master Allan Mullins: “The quality of rosé wine being produced in South Africa is on par with the best that Spain and France produce!” And we’ve seen some consistency from top producers of the drier styles
Read more113 ENTRIES, 93 laureates, 36 bronze medallists, 47 silvers and 11 gold medal winners. Only 11 duds. What a fantastic hit rate! And the grand champion at the 2016 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge from Paarl: Anura Brut 2011 – R180 a bottle from the tasting room at the farm in the foothills of the Simonsberg. Anura Vineyards might not immediately spring
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