Tag Archives: Red Blend

Constantia Glen… Hall of Fame winery, good lunch for under R200

CONSTANTIA GLEN. Down the main road from the Constantia Nek traffic circle for those travelling via Hout Bay or Bishop’s Court / Newlands in Cape Town. Home to some of South Africa’s most highly rated blends – white and red – over the past 10 years, as well as a decent restaurant. The Constantia Glen TWO white blend (R100pg) is

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Sadie Family Columella 2015 goes for R5472 a bottle on auction

THE Sadie Family of the Paardeberg outside Malmesbury in the Swartland dominated proceedings in terms of the highest prices paid for South African wines at the first Strauss & Co wine auction of 2024, a Rhône Theme sale conducted online. Sadie’s Columella red blend was in particularly high demand, with 96 bottles going for R4213pb on average including commissions. The

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Paarl estate Bacco grabs attention a year after opening

ITALIAN for Bacchus, the Roman God of Wine, Bacco is also the name of a new wine estate in the Simonsberg area of Paarl where proprietor Nathan Jankelowitz and his team are attracting attention in more ways than one. Opened to the public at the end of 2022, the Bacco tasting room and restaurant present a multi-sensory experience. There’s the

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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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Meerlust Red the latest to join South Africa’s ‘Super Seconds’

THERE ARE some wines of South Africa that are positioned as not quite top draw but very good, worthy of premium pricing. Better than ‘second labels’ such as Kadette in the case of Kanonkop, Jordan’s Chameleon, DMZ from DeMorgenzon, Glenelly’s Glass Collection, Kloof from Mullineux, Secateurs from AA Badenhorst, First Sighting from Strandveld… No, there are wines which we’re told

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Survivor on the up and up… New cellarmaster, new series

THE SWARTLAND Survivor Pinotage had impressed for quite a while before the appointment of Pierre Wahl as cellarmaster in January 2022. So much to look forward to in due course with ‘The Pope of Pinotage’ now in charge. After four years at the Friedman family’s Môreson cellar in Franschhoek, followed by 20 years at Neville Dorrington’s Rijk’s wine estate in

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Just R60pb! Koelenhof and Van Loveren win Value Challenge

ALTHOUGH the 2022 Ultra Value Wine Challenge was open to entries selling for up to R130 a bottle, the Wine of the Year awards for the highest-scoring red and white in the competition were presented for submissions way below the price ceiling. Best-value red: a blend (mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz) from the Koelenhof Winery in Stellenbosch, the Koelenberg 2021.

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KC Vin de Constance fetches record price at online auction

ALMOST as newsworthy as the record-breaking price of over R58K fetched for a 500ml Vin de Constance 1987 at the ‘Cape Heritage Wine’ Auction by Strauss & Co end-August 2022, was the ‘bargain’ price that the 1957 Chateau Libertas went for. A 750ml bottle of this old Chateau Lib blend from Cinsaut and Cabernet Sauvignon that came out of the

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Best value red under R100 this year to date: Paul Hugo 2020

WITH SOME vintages it’s recommended that for a refreshing drink you can chill this blend, described by the De Villiers family as a “fun-loving” wine. In recent years, however, the Paul Hugo Red has over-delivered relative what you might expect from the second tier in Landskroon’s portfolio. The 2020 is one of the standouts since the maiden vintage 2006. Judged

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Prices updated, availability checked… Top SA wines under R120

SJOE! The Trophy Wine Show got it so right when they honoured the 2019 Thokozani Cabernet Franc as Discovery of the Show in 2022. Best value gold medallist in South Africa’s premier wine competition, open to wines of all categories, this beauty from the Diemersfontein cellar in Wellington was also top of its class at the National Wine Challenge (SA)

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Top 10 Classification = superb wine time and again, year after year

THE TOP WINE SA Hall of Fame is one thing, but so exclusive, very limited… Also prestigious is a Top 10 ranking in the South African Wine Classification – each of them found particularly appealing vintage after vintage, each of them recommended by panels of experts without fear or favour over the past decade, none of them ‘resting on their

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Top quality, great value SA Chenin endorsed by Decanter panel, UK

2022 HAD ALREADY got underway when Decanter (UK) announced the names of their Wines of the Year 2021. Experts around the world and on the Decanter team nominated those wines that had impressed them most during the year to October 2021, and these were then re-assessed by a panel comprising three of the publication’s judges: Master of Wine Michelle Cherutti-Kowal,

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Some old people and places worth treasuring, so too with old vines

Old Road Grand-mère Semillon 2017 • Gold Medal, Best in Class at Trophy Wine Show (SA) • Gold Medal at International Wine Challenge (UK) Old Road 12 Mile Syrah 2018 • Gold Medal at International Wine & Spirit Competition (UK) AND THESE ARE just the stars of the range in 2021, two from several tiers of wines offered by the

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Humble KWV red blend evolves into ‘Super Roodeberg’ of note

70 YEARS AGO, who would have imagined what Roodeberg was to become… Dr Charles Niehaus was appointed as KWV’s chief wine scientist in 1941, during World War II, and he remained a central figure at South Africa’s leading co-operative winery until his retirement in 1971. To think that the KWV’s dry red wine portfolio back in the day comprised just

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Outrageous! How can a competition winner not carry the highest score?

AWKWARD! Who was more embarrassed: the good folk at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, the South African National Wine Show Association who organise the Veritas Awards, or the sponsors of the competition? Whereas De Grendel Wine Estate in Panorama/Durbanville would be forgiven if they felt robbed! The 2021 prize-giving took place in early November and the Duimpie Bayly Veritas Vertex

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Top-scoring wines in Platter’s 2022 revealed in advance of book launch

DAYS IN ADVANCE of launching the 2022 edition of their book and presenting awards for their choice of Wines and Wineries of the Year, the publishers of Platter’s South African Wine Guide teased followers by divulging the names of their 5 Star laureates – 234 of them, each considered to be ‘Superlative, a South African classic’. However, also disclosed on

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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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Celebrations all round for Stellenbosch 1679 from Koelenhof Winery

AT THE VERY heart of the South African winelands, Stellenbosch was founded in the year 1679, and harking back to its roots, so to speak, ‘Stellenbosch 1679′ is the name of the new tier of wines introduced by one of the most successful co-operative cellars in the district. The Chenin Blanc was first to catch the aficionados’ attention when it

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Top score at Veritas just one of The Mentors’ major achievements of late

THE MENTORS wines have been marvelled at and admired ever since the launch of this premium tier by the KWV in Paarl over a decade ago. The most consistent stars in the range include Pinotage and red combos such as the Perold Cape Blend and the Bordeaux-style Orchestra, one of only 29 wines in South Africa’s Hall of Fame. Plus,

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South Africa’s most-raved-about wines in 2020 – every one a champion

  THESE ARE the South African wines most highly rated in 2020, contenders for the title of SA Wine of the Year! Or should that be Winery of the Year, or Winemaker of the Year? Clearly some reviews count more than others. On the other hand, it says a lot when a wine wows more than one panel of experts

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