BEFORE being honoured with a trophy at the Global Fine Wine Challenge in Sydney, Australia, Tokara’s 2020 Director’s Reserve White blend was a 95-pointer at Decanter’s World Wine Awards in the UK and then a gold medallist at the Global Masters, also in the UK. Tough to better this, and yet… Stellenrust’s 2022 Barrel Fermented Chenin was applauded with the
Read moreMANY WINE lovers would be amazed on being told that neither Chardonnay nor Cabernet rank among the Top 3 most widely planted grape vines in France. And outside Spain and Portugal, who would have thought that Tempranillo is as big as it is in the total scheme of things. In the Cape winelands, the most-planted variety of grape vine is
Read moreAT THE FIRST Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction of 2023, The Sadie Family’s red blend Columella fetched the highest prices paid for Cape beauties during a sale of collectables from the Rhône Valley, France, and Rhône-style offerings from Australia, the USA and South Africa. Most in demand of all the wines – procured by Cape Town retailer Wine Cellar
Read moreELGIN is best known for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc… Merlot less so. Chenin Blanc even less so. Yet Elgin Merlot and Chenin are what Cape wine producers excelled with most at the 2022 Global Fine Wine Challenge, hosted in Sydney, with the competing nations including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. In previous years, South Africa
Read moreTHE LE RICHE cellar has always been there or thereabouts when considering South Africa’s leading producers of Cabernet Sauvignon over the past decade or so! However, the last three years have been particularly successful for the family, with rave reviews from critics locally and internationally, culminating in victory at the Global Fine Wine Challenge in Sydney where the 2018 vintage
Read moreA COMPETITION of which the results are talked up in stages, the Global Fine Wine Challenge in Sydney picks up where the Six Nations Wine Challenge left off in 2019, prior to the Covid pandemic sweeping the world, with the 2021 edition contested by wines from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. At the time of writing,
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 moreSA WINERIES excelled at the 2018 Six Nations Wine Challenge in Sydney, Australia, with Stellenbosch, Somerset West and Paarl producers winning trophies in the company of top cellars representing six New World countries: Australia, New Zealand, Chile, the USA, Canada and South Africa. A Stellenrust Chenin triumphed in the category for non-aromatic whites and Morgenster came top among the Bordeaux-style
Read moreAT THE 2017 Six Nations Wine Challenge awards banquet in Sydney, New Zealand was the most successful country, winning 6 trophies, 22 double gold medals and 35 golds. The next most successful was the USA (4 trophies, 18 double golds and 20 golds), followed by Australia, South Africa and Canada, with Chile bringing up the rear in a competition judged
Read moreTHE ANNUAL Six Nations Wine Challenge contested by some of the leading ‘New World’ producers of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile, Canada and the USA is unlike any other wine competition on the planet. A respected wine authority from each of the six countries involved chooses what he considers to be 100 of the very best products of his country and the the respective
Read morePINOTAGE was the most successful variety for South Africa at the 2013 Six Nations Wine Challenge in Sydney, Australia, with three double gold medals presented for Pinotage wines made in various parts of the Cape. Specifically, the Mentors Pinotage 2011 from KWV of Paarl won first prize in the Major Red Variety Class, with double golds also going to the
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