WHAT TO MAKE of Diemersdal… A Sauvignon Blanc specialist. A Pinotage specialist. A good all-rounder. With a pretty decent ‘Farm Eatery’ to lunch or dine at in the winelands of Durbanville… Short of energy they’re not. In fact the Louw family and their team sometimes seem at risk of over-stretching themselves, regularly adding to the range and tweaking their strong
Read moreWITH MUCH more focus these days on the name of a cellar in Paarl than that of the producer or the name it trades under, the label is an artwork in itself. Warshay Investments’ KWV Cathedral Cellar Sauvignon Blanc has been a friend of discerning wine lovers for many years, ranking among the Top 20 in the South African Wine Classification.
Read moreSURELY it’s the South African Sauvignon Blanc most raved about by most critics in 2020… With the results of the International Wine Challenge (UK) as well as the Veritas Awards (SA) and 5 Star ratings in the next Platter’s SA Wine Guide still to come, no other Sauvignon from the Cape has received as many glowing reviews from such top
Read moreCHENIN BLANC might be the most-planted wine grape variety in South Africa, but Sauvignon Blanc is the country’s top-selling variety… A success story for sure, and most cellars are confident about putting their wines on show for scrutiny by the critics. There were 149 submissions from 96 producers vying for a place in the 2020 Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10,
Read moreWHAT to take away from Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Report on South African Sauvignon Blanc… For starters, editor Christian Eedes and fellow tasting panel members Roland Peens as well as James Pietersen of Cape Town merchant/cellarer Wine Cellar are among those who generally regard the Bordeaux-style blends and Wooded Sauvignons as generally superior to unwooded Sauvignon. “Whereas unwooded Sauvignon often succeeds
Read moreIT’S ARGUABLE that at under R100 a bottle, if you’re weighing up South Africa’s various wine categories, Sauvignon Blanc generally offers best value-for-money. Sure, there are now very few top Sauvignons in the SA Wine Classification at this level, price wise. However, at the time of writing, five of the finalists in the country’s 2020 Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition
Read moreANNI is the third daughter of Vrede en Lust owner Dana Buys, her namesake a rather impressive Sauvignon Blanc. From Casey’s Ridge, the family’s farm in Elgin, the grapes are taken to the cellar on their estate in Simondium at the foot of the Simonsberg, Paarl. And what emerges in bottle, adorned with a dove, is an unwooded beauty of
Read moreCELEBRATING her 335th birthday in 2020, the Grande Dame of Cape Town’s winelands ranks as one South Africa’s Top 30 cellars. Chardonnay and dessert-wine fans might argue that Groot Constantia is among the country’s top five or six estates, at least, although it can be challenging to pinpoint exactly which category the team is best at or the property most suited
Read moreTHE VAST majority of entries at the annual Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2020 were from the 2019 and 2018 vintages, but there was a South African that stood out for being way older than most: vintage 2012 of the Delaire Graff Coastal Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc, made using a combination of grapes sourced from the districts of Durbanville, Stellenbosch, Darling and
Read moreMANY ARE UNAWARE or forget that in parts of the world the cultivation of wine grape varieties is stictly controlled. As some well know, this was once the case in South Africa, whereas now you can plant anything anywhere, so to speak. Naturally, there are some areas that are better suited to wine farming than others, and certain grape varieties
Read moreOF COURSE, South African Sauvignon Blanc can be one of the most rewarding varieties, a seriously enjoyable white when the winemakers are on their game and the grapes come from the right vineyards. But darn, the chances of success could be better. Chardonnay, especially, as well as Chenin Blanc, are generally more reliable, better bang for your buck – whether
Read moreWALKING UP AND DOWN the aisles of a good wine shop, you tend to be faced with a manageable number of options to choose from when it comes to the niche or unusual varieties, the bargain barrel or the cabinet of luxury brands. However, when the choice is mind-boggling in size, you might need a strategy or some recommendations based
Read moreFOR THE annual Six Nations Wine Challenge staged in Sydney, Australia, entries are submitted following an invitation to the producers from the wine writer and judge representing each of the participating countries. In 2019 the panel of critics comprised South Africa’s Michael Fridjhon (chair), Australia’s Huon Hooke, New Zealand’s Terry Copeland, the USA’s Patrick Comiskey and Canada’s Christopher Waters. Each
Read moreTHERE WERE 183 entries from 107 producers in the 2019 FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition and/but very few surprises in terms of the results which included three repeat winners – the 2019 vintage of De Grendel Koetshuis, Diemersdal Wild Ferment and Tokara Reserve Collection winning this year after victory with earlier vintages last year. The panel of judges were:
Read moreHIGHLY RECOMMENDED in Platter’s South African Wine Guide, an outstanding review on Winemag, then platinum at the Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK. Tokara Director’s Reserve 2016. So consistently good over the years. One of the Top 10 white blends in the SA Wine Classification, Top Wine SA Hall of Fame, Top 20 in the SA Cellar Classification.
Read moreDIEMERSDAL has a reputation for being a Sauvignon Blanc specialist pushing the envelope, and ‘Winter Ferment’ is the latest innovation in what cellarmaster Thys Louw describes as a New World style. After the harvest in February, the grape juice/must is frozen and kept at -20°C until June before being thawed and fermented in the Cape winter. Unique in South
Read moreA FRESH fish dish or summer salad cries out for good Sauvignon Blanc as a lunchtime companion. At R210 a bottle, the Family Reserve of Kleine Zalze in Stellenbosch is one of the Top 10 in the South African Wine Classification, but at half the price the winery’s Vineyard Selection offers particularly good value, the 2017 vintage achieving good
Read moreTHE MOST successful South African cellar at the 2019 Concours Mondial du Sauvignon was Delaire Graff of Stellenbosch, winning two gold medals (including one for a nine-year-old Sauvignon Blanc!), with Diemersdal of Durbanville, Strandveld outside Elim in Cape Agulhus, Kleine Zalze of Stellenbosch and Kroonpoort Vineyards also securing gold. 1010 wines from 26 countries were assessed by 73 judges from
Read moreWHILE RENOWNED for Sauvignon Blanc, red blends and Pinotage, Cape Town’s alternative to Constantia as a wine route less than 30km away and under half-an-hour’s drive from the heart of the Mother City also has a variety of other delights to offer by the glass – and the views are quite delightful, including some classics of Table Mountain from across the
Read moreTALK ABOUT extreme winemaking! There’s no cellar closer to the sea than the Fryer’s Cove outfit at the waterfront of Doringbaai, over 300km from Cape Town on South Africa’s West Coast. And their small blocks of vineyard nearby in the tiny ward of Bamboes Bay – north of Lambert’s Bay, south of Vredendal and Strandfontein – are so close to the
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