Six wooded beauties among 2024 Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10
THE VARIETY is “in an exciting phase,” said Sauvignon Blanc South Africa chair RJ Botha during the association’s 2024 Top 10 awards presented at De Meye Wine Estate in Stellenbosch. […]
Pinotage Association’s 2024 Top 10 champions revisited
ON RELEASE, the 2024 Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition results were trumpeted to and from all corners of South Africa’s Cape winelands and then out to fans around the country, […]
Stellenbosch dominates Chenin Blanc Challenge once again
BESIDES the incredible achievement of Stellenrust, who won three of the Top 10 awards for the second year in succession, the results of the 2024 Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Challenge […]
Top 10 Pinotage laureates all benchmarks in their own right
NO SURPRISES among the 2024 Absa Top 10 Pinotage trophy winners. They all have good pedigrees, so to speak, with those having top track records over the past 10 years […]
South Africa punches above its weight at Syrah Masters
REPORTING on the 2024 Global Syrah Masters for The Drinks Business publication in London, Master of Wine Patricia Stefanowicz compared the Shiraz plantings of France, at about 70 000ha, to Australia’s […]
Array of styles accommodated among Top 5 in Pinotage Report
AFTER assessing 46 wines for Winemag’s 2024 Prescient Pinotage Report, panel chair Christian Eedes remarked on the appealing “new wave” entries led by the 2023 vintages of Black Elephant Vintners’ […]
Flagstone Paradigm: Best Overall in Winemag’s Chenin Report
THERE WERE 75 single-variety South African Chenins submitted for assessment in Winemag’s 2024 Prescient Chenin Blanc Report, with 49 rated 90-plus and three of these regarded as particularly outstanding, worthy […]
Top Pinotage and Cape Blends revisited – up close and personal
THE 2023 Absa Top 10 Pinotage and Perold Cape Blend awards have been reported on already, but for many wine lovers it’s not enough to know what the winning wines […]
Six Cape Blend winners in a category that’s limping along
HOW MUCH longer will it take for the concept of a ‘Cape Blend’ to gain traction, one wonders. Some are really good, yet more than a decade after South Africa’s […]
Under R150 and Classified – great value wine year after year
MANY STOPPED paying attention to the Michelangelo Awards when it was pointed out that, like the South African Young Wine Show, the entries include tank- and barrel-samples, i.e. wines that […]
Talk about a show of dominance at the Chenin Blanc Challenge
THEY MAKE at least half a dozen Chenins at the Stellenrust winery in the Helderberg and another at their boutique ArtiSons cellar in Bottelary. Even the ‘standard’ version (currently R89pb) […]
Podlashuk Shiraz trophy goes to Pinot specialist Creation …
THE RESULTS of the 2023 Shiraz SA Challenge provided plenty of talking points. For example: Flagstone of the Strand/Somerset West grabbed two awards, one for a ‘Dark Horse’ with one […]
