IT BEGGARS belief on hearing that a red wine from one of the main drags on South Africa’s Paarl wine route can be judged good enough to win a gold medal yet sell for just R48 per bottle at the cellar door on the farm. Believe it. Landskroon pulled it off as a laureate at the 2018 Cab Franc Challenge!
Read moreWITH HALF a dozen winemakers at last count and casting their net wide in sourcing grapes from vineyards near and far from where they’re based north of the Paarl CBD, Boland Cellar’s offering has grown to seven or so labels including their top-tier No. 1 Reserve and the quaffable Flutterby. It’s with their mid-tier One Formation blends and Talent &
Read moreBELOW are the top Sauvignon Blanc producers in South Africa over the past 10 years, those with the best track records spanning 2008 to 2017, presented according to where you’ll find their tasting rooms on the various wine routes. For the 2018 SA Sauvignon Blanc Classification, see here, and for the contact info and addresses of those outfits that can be
Read moreBELOW are the top Chardonnay producers in South Africa over the past 10 years, those with the best track records spanning 2008 to 2017, presented according to where you’ll find their tasting rooms on the various wine routes. For the 2018 SA Chardonnay Classification, see here, and for the contact info and addresses of those outfits that can be visited and/or
Read moreMORE THAN two weeks after the 2017 Nederburg Auction on 16 September, the full results of South Africa’s premier sale of fine wines including mature beauties and golden oldies had yet to get the auditor’s stamp of approval. Presumably this is simply a case of an administrative hold-up and that nothing’s gone awry! For the last post-event reports (pre-October 1)
Read moreTHE 2017 SA Cellar Classification confirms the ‘who’s who’ of the Cape winelands when it comes to those producers whose wines have been most fancied most often by panels of experts around the world during the 10-year period 2007 to 2016. And in this regard, obviously, the Top 20 outfits overall make for a rather special bunch. In general, the reputation
Read moreLOVELY Chenin. Some age on it. Characterful. Everything the producer promises on the back-label: “… pear upfront, followed by dried peaches, finishing with lingering tastes of roasted almonds and honey.” Rich and ripe from the moment you put your nose to the glass. And at R75 a bottle from the cellar, Doran Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc 2013 lives up to
Read moreREFLECTING on the past year as regards Wine SA, there is a case to be made for Paarl being home to the champion producer in 2014 after KWV triumphed as the most successful entrant overall at the most prestigious competitions on the South African wine calendar – first at the Trophy Wine Show (for the second time) and then at the Veritas
Read moreTHE RESTAURANT critics are largely in agreement… The top dining venue in South Africa for 2014 is The Test Kitchen at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, Cape Town, with Luke Dale-Roberts the chef-owner and Wayve Kolevsohn the somellier: third Restaurant of the Year accolade at the 2014 Eat Out Mercedes Benz Awards, 5 Stars at the 2014 Rossouw’s Diners Club Awards, one
Read moreWELL WOULD YOU look at that! While the trophy winner at this year’s CAPPA Port Challenge is again from Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo, three of the six gold medal-winning producers are not from the ‘Port Capital’ of South Africa! Besides the Cape champion and runner-up overall from Boplaas, a wine from De Krans and another from Peter Bayly (all of Calitzdorp), two of
Read morePROBABLY the biggest surprise at the 2014 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show was the revelation that award-winning wine is now also being made in the vicinity of Riversdale, where vineyards were nowhere to be seen prior to 2009. While the 2013 Baleia Bay Chardonnay that earned the trophy for ‘Discovery of the Show’ (best-value gold medallist) can be bought just off the
Read moreFROGS AND TOADS, creatures belonging to the class of tailless amphibians collectively referred to as Anura, an order of which there are countless families… Who would have thought that these guys had anything to do with wine! In America, however, oenophiles are familiar with the Frog’s Leap Winery in California, also home to Frolicking Frog, Toad Hollow and Toasted Toad
Read moreR40 A BOTTLE for one of the Cape’s top red blends! What a come-on line for the guys at Viljoensdrift alongside the Breede River in Robertson following the inclusion of their River Grandeur Cape Blend 2011 among the Top 5 in the Pinotage Association’s 2013 Perold Absa Cape Blend Competition. The Viljoens’ farm is renowned for the wine-tasting-cum-picnic experience aboard their
Read moreThe greenhouse at Babylonstoren, Paarl: great place for a snack and a glass of vino, or for some tea and cake if you’d prefer THEY ARE TWO of the most talked-about destinations on the wine routes within easy travelling distance of Cape Town, highly recommended on several fronts and each better than the other for this or that. Nobody’s perfect,
Read moreGrapes from Walker Bay, cellar in Paarl, one of the very few SA dessert wines from Sauvignon, just released and already a gold medallist THE FIRST of KWV’s dessert wines to be made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes – or so we think, as the exact origin of their Noble Late Harvests from the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s is unclear… And the first Noble Late from
Read moreFANTASTIQUE! It seems like just the other day that Orange River Cellars of the Northern Cape came top at the Muskadel SA Awards and now they’ve triumphed at the international Muscats du Monde wine competition in the Languedoc Roussillon region of France. Over a period of two days, 55 judges from around the world nosed and tasted 224 wines from 24
Read morePale straw colour, fine bubble, fresh nose, aromas of baked apple, citrus notes, yeasty I WAS ONE of the sceptics on hearing about Fairview launching their first sparkling wine made according to the Méthode Cap Classique. My misgivings had nothing to do with the ability of proprietor Charles Back and his team to master the method of bottle fermentation in producing a bubbly along
Read moreThe home of Roodeberg and other KWV brands – an artist’s take on La Concorde, Paarl ROODEBERG was once enjoyed exclusively by wine lovers outside South Africa, by farmers who sold grapes to the Koöperatiewe Wijnbouwers Vereniging, by KWV directors and staff, by friends of the farmers and by those who had contacts at the KWV. The brand was born
Read moreA symbol of of religious tolerance and a delightful bottle of wine IT’S DIFFICULT to think of a more appropriate top wine to contemplate at this time of giving and goodwill around one of the most important dates on the Christian calendar… Recently launched after being awarded a rating of 5 Stars in the latest issue of Platter’s, the new
Read moreTHE STAND-OUT port-style wines from South Africa, the best reviews of the year… Klein Karoo producers Axe Hill, Boplaas, the Calitzdorp Cellar and De Krans remain dominant, with Bergsig of the Breedekloof and KWV of Paarl offering the main alternatives at this level of quality – a standard that irked the Portuguese so much that the European Union banned South African cellars from using
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