SOUTH AFRICA achieved three gold medals at the 2024 edition of Chardonnay du Monde in Burgundy, France, with one of the winning wines – the 2023 vintage of Glen Carlou’s wooded version – ranked among the Top 10. WO Paarl, R190pb ex-cellar! Some 200 wine experts from around the world were involved in the judging of 579 entries comprising various
Read moreSOUTH AFRICA’S Chenin Blanc is such a strong category and getting stronger, pulling ahead of France, with over 40 wines receiving particularly good reviews from the top panels internationally during 2023 to date. Delights from Paarl, Wellington and the Breedekloof, Stellenbosch and the Swartland, Durbanville, Bot River and Franschhoek. One of the country’s ‘signature’ varieties, and highlighted in red are
Read moreOH FOR A BOTTLE or a case of each! The panels of experts have spoken… See below for the honours roll when it comes to the South African Chardonnays most highly rated internationally during 2023 to date. Highlighted in red are those that qualified for the SA Wine Classification showcasing good track records over the past 10 years. Almenkerk
Read moreHAVING achieved 95/100 for the current release of their flagship red blend at the Decanter World Wine Awards in London, Constantia Glen went one better with a score of 96 at the last of the biggest competitions of its kind in 2023, the International Wine & Spirit Competition. Constantia Glen Five 2020 was one of the three top-scoring South African
Read moreIONA Chardonnay 2021 of the Elgin Highlands and the 2020 Reserve Cab from Le Riche in the Helderberg vineyards of Stellenbosch were the panels’ favourite South African wines at the 2023 Decanter Awards in London. A record-breaking 18 250 entries were received from 57 countries, assessed by 236 judges including 53 Masters of Wine and 16 Master Sommeliers. After weeks of
Read moreJUDGES at the 2023 International Wine Challenge in London were impressed by South African entries in a variety of classes, but the Chardonnay especially. Six of the 15 gold medals that went the way of Cape wine producers were for Chardonnay, with the 2021 vintage of Paul Cluver’s Seven Flags given 97 on the scorecard… Days after the names of
Read moreWITH MANY if not all wine competition organisers who honour overall champions at their shows, local and international, the choice has mostly to do with how many awards each producer wins, rather than which are the favourite wines. Yes, usually trophies count more than gold medals, golds count more than silvers, etc, but no, it’s not necessarily a case of
Read moreIT’S NOT OFTEN that you see wine estates trumpeting about a silver medal, yet the sound of popping corks can get pretty pretty loud when a respected critic or tasting panel awards a score in the 90s – regardless of whether or not it warrants a gold medal, let alone double gold or platinum. It’s amazing how the mind works:
Read moreNOW IN ITS 38th year, the International Wine Challenge (IWC) is one of the world’s most rigorous wine competitions. Every medal winner is assessed ‘blind’ on at least three separate occasions by a minimum of two panels of judges tasting together, and then again by two of the show’s co-chairs, who in 2022 comprised Tim Atkin MW, Sam Caporn MW,
Read moreWHAT 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 moreAMAZINGLY, given the ramifications of COVID-19 disaster restrictions internationally, there was a record number of entries from producers in 56 countries vying for a top spot in the Decanter World Wine Awards (UK). The 2021 edition of the competition was contested by 18 094 wines, assessed by nearly 170 experts including 44 Masters of Wine and 11 Master Sommeliers. Over
Read moreTHERE WERE OVER 1200 wines from around the world gathered for assessment at Mondial du Sauvignon (Blanc) 2021 in Brussels, Belgium. The contest involved some 40 judges who deliberated for four days in choosing 127 gold medallists, nine of which went on to win trophies – three French wines, two Austrians, one New Zealander, an Italian, one from the
Read moreA DOZEN South African wines earned gold medals at the 2020 International Wine & Spirit Competition in the UK. Top score of 97/100 in this regard went to the 2018 vintage of Bouchard Finlayson Missionvale Chardonnay from the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, with three wines scored 96 points, namely the Nicolas van der Merwe Cabernet Sauvignon 2017, the Quoin Rock Red Blend
Read moreSTELLENBOSCH and the Cederberg are where South Africa’s grand gold medallists at Mondial 2020 originated. The 2019 Stellenbosch Vineyard Selection from Chenin champions Kleine Zalze, the flagship Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2017 vintage of David Nieuwoudt’s Private Cellar in the Cederberg and the Cape’s 18 gold medallists did the country proud at the three-day international competition hosted this year in
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 moreTHE CONTENTIOUS issue of wine ratings and awards continues to flare up from time to time, with outspoken wine lovers, wine scribes, critics and judges at odds with each other to the point of disbelief, even outrage. The problem? Firstly, there’s not enough consensus regarding which scoring system to use – star ratings aside, there are different versions of the
Read moreCONTENDERS for the title of SA Wine of the Year? Winery of the Year? Winemaker of the Year? Clearly some awards and ratings count more than others. Then again, it says a lot when a wine wows more than one panel of experts – three or four even. Cederberg? Constantia Glen? Stellenrust? De Grendel? Or any of the other
Read moreIMPRESSIVE! 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
Read moreNO 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
Read moreAFTER 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
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