THE CATALOGUE has been published; the countdown has begun. The first Fine South African Wine Auction by Strauss & Co, Wine Cellar Fine Wine Merchants and Sommelier Higgo Jacobs is set for 8 June 2019 in Johannesburg – with Cape Town next up come September in what will become an ongoing programme of interest to wine investors and hedonists. “The
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 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 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 moreTHE ANNOUNCEMENT of the Absa Top 10 for 2018 served to reiterate a number of truths and trends: ‘old’ vines make for good wines; the more experience you have with the variety and the vineyards, the higher the likelihood of greatness in the bottle; while the benchmarks remain steadfast, those contesting the premier league have grown in number and location;
Read moreWINE LOVERS around the world have a soft spot for it! The Pinotage market is booming! At 24 million litres a year and counting, it’s one of the South African wine industry’s fairy-tale success stories and the good times seem unlikely to end any time soon. Of the Top 10 most-planted wine grape varieties in the country, Pinotage is the only
Read moreMARCH 1 is traditionally when the annual general price increases are implemented by most South African wine farms and distributors to address production cost increases, inflation, etc. In 2018 many producers delayed their yearly hikes or indicated that a second adjustment would follow that in March because of the increase in VAT, due to come about in April. There are
Read moreINTERESTING it was to see the brands involved and what the charitably minded were keen to buy at the 2018 Cape Wine Auction hosted at Rustenberg and Tokara in Stellenbosch. The prime objective of the two-day event is to support children’s education in needy communities of the South African winelands, and to this end the amount raised came to R17.5 million.
Read more“THE 2000 hectares of old vines that South Africa has is important… It’s part of our history, part of our future, but it’s not going to take our industry forward… What about the other 95 000 hectares!” So reasons Bruwer Raats, applauded as top producer in Platter’s SA Wine Guide, champion of the varieties Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, outspoken winemaker
Read moreBellingham The Bernard Series Small Barrel SMV 2014 5 Stars and 97/100 in Platter’s, double gold at Veritas, gold at Decanter Awards, winner in Shiraz SA Challenge R275pb, DGB, Franschhoek Cellar Blend of Shiraz (87%), Mourvèdre (10%) and Viognier, (3%), WO Agter-Paarl Barrel-fermented and matured in French oak barrels for 14 months Alc 14 % | RS 4.5 g/l |
Read moreTROPHY WINNERS: • Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Merlot 2014 (Bergkelder) • Jordan Nine Yards Chardonnay 2015 • Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage 2013 • Nederburg Two Centuries Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 • Plaisir de Merle Grand Brut 2014 (Cap Classique Sparkling) • Stellenrust Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2016 ABOVE ARE the names of the most successful South African entries at the 2017 International Wine & Spirit
Read moreLEADING UK wine scribe Jancis Robinson writes on her website that South Africa’s industry is at “a very strange, possibly critical, point in its evolution.” She refers to “a serious cohort of radical and cohesive young winemakers forging a new wine identity for their country” (some of whom she had never heard of, because they are so ‘fledgling’). “There is
Read moreKANONKOP, Spier and Nederburg have placed top of their class in the 2017 International Wine & Spirit Competition, London – Kanonkop leading with three vintages of their Cabernet Sauvignon from the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch, Spier of Stellenbosch excelling with the same vintage of their Pinotage that triumphed at Mondial earlier in the year as well as at the 2016 Veritas
Read moreTHE STORY of how Pinotage came to be is well documented by the producers’ association, and there are eight names in the South African winelands associated with the establishment of the cultivar that remain classified as champions of the variety: KWV (of Paarl), DeWaal, Lanzerac, Kanonkop, Simonsig, Delheim and Spier (all of Stellenbosch), as well as Groot Constantia. Of these,
Read moreTHE 2017 ABSA Top 10 Pinotage competition culminated with the presentation of trophies to winning wine producers at Cavalli estate outside Somerset West. The event commemorated 21 years of the Pinotage Association’s competition that contributes to setting benchmarks as regards South Africa’s most successful ‘indigenous’ variety. There were 147 entries and the laureates were applauded as fine ambassadors of Wine
Read more“IN A SPECTACULAR show of generosity and opulence…” the 2017 Cape Wine Auction set a new record for the annual fund-raising effort by generating R22.3 million for 22 charities that focus on education and the lives of children in the winelands of South Africa. This year the bidding took place at Anthonij Rupert Wyne in Franschhoek, where estate owner Johann
Read moreTHE PINOTAGE Association made much of Kanonkop’s and Rijk’s achievements at the 2016 Absa Top 10 awards where they both won trophies for the 11th time in the 20-year history of the event – iconic track records for sure, albeit that the Kanonkop 2010 was ‘sold out’ ex-cellar and the Rijk’s Reserve 2013 had yet to be released at the time of writing. However, two
Read more“PINOTAGE has the heart of a lion and the tongue of a woman; after drinking a certain quantity you can talk forever and fight like the devil!” – Anonymous. More memorable wine quotes here. The Top 10 Pinotage in terms of South African wines with the best track records over the past 10 years (2006 – 2015) are the following: Beyerskloof
Read moreA MONTH AFTER the last flames to sweep over the Simonsberg in Stellenbosch had been extinguished, there were still no official reports as to the full extent of the damage and loss suffered on this special stretch of the Cape winelands. Thankfully there were no human casualties, but the fires were devastating, with farms in the path of the inferno left totting up the
Read moreKWV was by far the most successful producer overall at the 2015 Veritas Awards, with double gold medals awarded for their leading Cape Blend, Abraham Perold Tributum 2013, their Tawny port and four wines in The Mentors range – plus eight gold medals presented for various other reds, whites and fortified wines in the KWV portfolio. Nederburg and Spier were also very
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