THE WINE CELLAR, Wine Menu, Caroline’s, Tops at Spar and the Institute of Cape Wine Masters have lined up tastings aplenty to look forward to in Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, Cape Town and PE this month. It’s also Bastille Festival time in Franschhoek, there’s Soetes & Soup on the menu in the Breedekloof and, having established a fine reputation at The Old
BEST GRAPES in Stellenbosch, matured in small oak barrels, focus on detail. That’s the short story about this “handcrafted masterpiece” in a heavyweight bottle from Stellenview of Devon Valley, Stellenbosch: Kruger Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, the judges’ favourite red at the 2019 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. A longer version of how it came about tells of a
UNUSUAL cultivars, niche varieties, alternative grapes, call them what you may… Certain leading South African cellarmasters are making some lovely wines that orginate in vineyards somewhat different from what most people with a taste for good living know all too well. Some are difficult to pronounce, let alone find on the average winelist or bottle store shelf, however the specialist
THERE ISN’T another wine tasting venue quite like theirs. Very few farms in South Africa are as successful when it comes to organic wines labelled as such. And while they might well be better known by many for some of their Ladybird wines than for most of their Reserves, the wine they’re best at is Merlot, Claypot Merlot –
NO DOUBT many a wine lover reacted with shock and disbelief on hearing that Painted Wolf of Paarl had won the title of Most Successful Producer Overall at the 2019 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. That was until they heard how Jeremy & Emma Borg and ‘the pack’ pulled it off – with champion white and red wines made using the
BONNIEVALE WINES have upped their game in recent years and the title of Discovery of the Show at the 2019 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show for Best Value Gold Medallist is a sign that their intent goes deeper than face value. Yet “unpretentious” is stated on the label, and R97 a bottle from the cellar is “welcoming and soothing”
MULLING OVER results of the inaugural Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction in Johannesburg, waiting to hear feedback and comment from the organisers Wine Cellar and Sommelier Higgo Jacobs, there’s a fair bit to ponder. 78% of the 183 lots sold for R1.3m in total, the items ranging from single bottles to 12-bottle cases. “We think it’s a great start,”
AFTER A devastating fire in 2017 made it impossible to accommodate guests overnight, the refurbished hotel on the Lanzerac Wine Estate in the Jonkershoek Valley of Stellenbosch is being showered with praise. The estate dates back to 1692, the manor house to 1959, and less than a year after reopening it’s been named South Africa’s Leading Wine Country Hotel for
HIGHLY 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.
A MULDERBOSCH single-vineyard Chenin and a reserve Cabernet from Stellenview were the top-scoring white and red wines at the 2019 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. However, the trophy for most successful producer overall went to Painted Wolf Wines of Paarl and that for ‘Discovery of the Show’ to Bonnievale Wines for a Cab of gold medal standard that sells for
SA WINE lovers are spoilt for choice in June 2019 – so many shows, fairs and festivals to choose from, all around the country. Juliet Cullinan, FynArts, Wacky Wine Weekend, Trophy Wine Show – and the first auction of fine rarities to be hosted by Wine Cellar, Strauss & Co and Sommelier Higgo Jacobs. 4 & 5 JUNE
FROM THE Swartland Winery, outside Malmesbury. Bush Vine Chenin Blanc 2017. R90pb ex-cellar. The latest wanna-have on the select list of South African wine stars that have attracted good to rave reviews in 2019 to date and which don’t cost a ‘pretty penny’ – one of only six South African vinos to have earned platinum at the Decanter World
AFTER assessing over 16 500 entries, the 2019 Decanter World Wine Award judges selected 50 considered ‘Best in Show’. France was the most successful of the 57 wine-producing countries participating at this international competition held in London, followed by Spain, Australia, Portugal and Italy in terms of their number of show-stoppers. No South Africans cracked the nod for one of
HARTENBERG Estate’s charming underground cellar is not only the home of maturing Shiraz and then some, but also a gallery of 12 artworks by German coppersmith Karl Heinz Wilhelm depicting the various phases of cultivating and producing wine. On the surface, the Mackenzie family’s vineyards are planted to a number of different varieties, however this farm in the Bottelary
TOP MUSCADELS from the Cape remain oh such good fortified dessert wines, but oh so underrated – downplayed, you could argue, even by some of the producers themselves, let alone consumers with a sweet tooth who also seem to place a higher value on unfortified desserts including Noble Late Harvest, Natural Sweet and Straw Wine. The Muskadel SA association doesn’t have
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
THEY SAY they produce the world’s best Shiraz. A bold claim by the Hartenberg producers in Bottelary, Stellenbosch. And at the 2019 edition of Syrah du Monde, France, they were certainly up there with some of the best, their ‘Stork’ flagship placing among the Top 4, and Bon Courage of Robertson also one of the Top 10 – their ‘Pepper
THERE were 207 entries in the 2019 Shiraz SA Challenge, including 36 Shiraz-driven blends. The judges were Cape Wine Masters Andy Roediger (panel chair) and Elsie Pells, cellarmasters Charles Hopkins (De Grendel) and Edmund Terblanche (La Motte), wine writer/brand manager Samarie Smith (Benguela Cove), international judge Claus Fischer of Germany (Mundus Vini), wine consultant Jeanne-Mari de Villiers (VinJeanne) and Cape
YOU MIGHT well scratch your head on hearing the results of South Africa’s National Wine Challenge. Convener Robin von Holdt of BuyBetterWine chooses to release the results in tranches, and whereas it might seem logical to either build up to a climax or begin with the most special awards, he prefers to kick off with a function where only the
THERE were 9150 wines from 46 countries judged at the 2019 edition of Concours Mondial de Bruxelles in Aigle, Switzerland. Spain won 626 medals, followed by France (614), Italy (383) and Portugal (365). The host country won 172 awards and South Africa was also among the 10 most successful wine-producing nations in the competion, with a medal haul of
