Tag Archives: Cape

Vondeling now just up the road from Fairview and Spice Route

IF YOUR WINERY is fairly off the beaten track, perhaps your tasting room isn’t attracting quite as many guests as you’d like and you want to bolster your public profile, to take things to the next level, why not relocate where you do your entertaining? The Vondeling farm is in that corner of Paarl called Voor-Paardeberg, just ‘over the hill’

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Leeu Passant Cabernet Franc fetches top price at CWG Auction

FROM A SINGLE, east-facing vineyard in Franschhoek, planted around the time that Leeu Passant was founded just 10 years ago, “this is the first release of this stunning and classy Cabernet Franc,” says winemaker Andrea Mullineux of the wine that fetched the highest price paid at the 2023 Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Auction. “These steep, terraced slopes have a permanent

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Three 95-point ratings in Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report

59 WINES from 49 producers were reviewed for Winemag’s 2023 Report on Cape Bordeaux Red Blends, i.e. combinations of two or more of the varieties Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Malbec. Delaire Graff’s Botmaskop of Stellenbosch came top in the tasting, although it was scored the same as Allée Bleue of Franschhoek and Constantia Glen – the

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Where to lunch on a wine farm today, tomorrow, next week…

  R300 FOR a good sirloin or pepper-crusted fillet with fries, salad and a decent glass of red. Or R300 for salmon, potatoes, greens and a decent glass of white. On the deck or patio, under the oaks, outside a top restaurant of a top cellar on a sunny afternoon in the beautiful winelands of the Cape. Have you been

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Wonderful wines of the Agulhas Triangle – according to the experts

WHAT WITH the Agulhas Triangle festival among the highlights on the wine calender end-October 2021, those in attendance at Lomond outside Gansbaai – or those who might have dreamt of going along but didn’t – and who would like a checklist of what to look out for when it comes to wines of the area, the following have received good

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Maestro Red rated ‘extraordinary, profound’ – Cape Bordeaux Report

HOW ABOUT THAT! Two of South Africa’s top-scoring wines in the 2021 Prescient Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report come from cellars in Stellenbosch Kloof, the third from a winery a bit further west of the town centre, where Stellenbosch meets Kuils River. 96 points for DeMorgenzon Maestro Red 2017: “Extraordinary. Profound.” 95 points for Overgaauw Tria Corda 2017 and Zevenwacht

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Wondering about the most expensive wines? What the world records are?

WHEN DISTELL submitted a little bottle of 200-year-old Grand Constance dessert wine for sale on the 2021 Cape Fine & Rare Wine Auction it was estimated to fetch R80 000 to R130 000. After all, once destined for delivery to Napoleon and until recently secured in the Stellenbosch company’s ‘Tabernacle’, the Constantia museum piece has one hellava backstory. That it

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More than ‘braai wine’, Bonfire Hill thanks to a rescue mission of sorts

FOR JUST R69 a bottle you can get a delicious blend of Chenin and Roussanne from Wellington, Grenache Blanc from the Breedekloof and Viognier from Robertson – a mix that placed among the Top 10 and offered best ‘bang for your buck’ in Winemag’s 2021 Cape White Blend Report. In fact, at the time of writing the 2020 Bonfire Hill

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Liquid Assets: selecting from South Africa’s most-planted varieties

WALKING 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

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Cape Viognier like this doesn’t come around often, doesn’t just happen!

  “DO YOU KNOW how hard it is to sell a bottle of Viognier in South Africa,” said the fellow behind the counter of the neighbourhood wine shop, explaining why they hardly ever stocked it. “Not any more,” said the customer, who’d been enquiring about the Ridgeback, hunting for the 2018 vintage, in vain. “Yeah, heard it just got 5

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Sparkling Cederberg Cap Classique does SA proud at World Champs

IMPRESSIVE! Winner of the only gold medal awarded to a South African bubbly at the 2019 Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships in London, the Cederberg Brut Blanc de Blancs 2014 was favoured above three silver medallists from Graham Beck of Robertson and another from Le Lude of Franschhoek. With less than two hectares of their mountain vineyards planted to

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Stellenbosch cellars excel in Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report, and yet!

COULDN’T help it! At first glance, what first ‘jumped out’ of Winemag’s 2019 Cape Bordeaux Red Blend Report was that one of the Top 5 is from a cellar in Worcester, and selling for a lot less than most of the top-rated submissions from Stellenbosch and Somerset West! Turns out that the Leipzig Grand Master 2017 is made from grapes

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2016 Cape Port from De Krans one of, if not THE best of the vintage

5 STARS in Platter’s Guide, Platinum at the Michelangelo Awards, one of the Top 10 in the Cape Port Challenge, Gold at the Veritas Awards, and still so young. From Calitzdorp, South Africa’s Port Capital in the Klein Karoo comes the 2016 vintage of De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve, a wine with Hall of Fame credentials for as long as we can

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Slideshow showcases top places to eat at on top wine farms of the Cape

NEW ON Top Wine SA! Now you can flip through photographs of the top tables in the winelands of South Africa and then, for more info, just click on the images that appeal. CHECK IT OUT: a slideshow of the best places to eat at among the vines, together with a directory already well used by many food and wine lovers who

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For Sauvignon Blanc lovers targeting top producers on SA wine routes

BELOW 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

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For Chardonnay lovers targeting the top producers on SA wine routes

BELOW 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

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Top 10 places to wine and dine on Cape wine farms – among the vines

According to the critics who wined and dined unannounced and paid for their meals before the 2017 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards were presented, the following are the best restaurants in the winelands of South Africa, i.e. on the farms, among the vines, rather than on the high streets or back roads of the towns and villages that punctuate the Cape winelands. The emphasis

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Brand marketing part and parcel of Cape Wine Auction, Franschhoek

“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

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Top 10 restaurants in the Cape, among the vines – Eat Out Awards 2016

EAT OUT, “South Africa’s Best Guide to South Africa’s Best Food”, might well come in for some flack after publication of their 2016 Restaurant Awards sponsored by Mercedes-Benz – only one restaurant from outside the Western Cape cracked the nod for a spot among the Top 10 and only three among the Top 20. Respected restaurant critic and publisher of Platter’s

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Wondering about what else to do or see in the winelands of the Cape?

BESIDES THE WINE, apart from the restaurants, over-and-above the farm stalls, gift shops, places to stay and the wonderful scenery, there are plenty of other things to see or do in the Cape winelands. CLICK HERE to see what bonus attractions are on offer near some of the top cellars in the country – a few examples shown below.

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