Tag Archives: Vergelegen

Most highly rated white blends from South Africa in 2023

FOR A WHILE longer at least, most of South Africa’s leading blended whites remain combinations of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, but the number of outstanding Chenin-led blends seems to be on the increase. These are the country’s white combos that were most pleasing to the top panels internationally in 2023 to date, and highlighted in red are those that qualify

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Auction bidder pays over R44K for a bottle of mysterious Cab

R44 555 was the second-highest price paid to date for a rare bottle of the GS Cabernet 1966 – the highest being R91 040 in 2021 – and/but no other South African wine came close in terms of demand for what was on offer at the Strauss & Co auction in Cape Town on 26 March. That said, a five-litre bottle of

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South Africa top at International Wine & Spirit Competition

SOUTH AFRICA came away from the 2022 International Wine & Spirit Competition (UK) with more gold medals than any other country, including France. Of the thousands of wines entered, nearly 700 were from 169 producers in the Cape, with 88% of these awarded a medal: 28 gold, 234 silver and 355 bronze. Top-scoring for South Africa were Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon

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Vergelegen, DeMorgenzon and Cavalli star in Winemag’s so-called Top 20

WHAT TO LIKE about Winemag‘s pick of South Africa’s ‘Top 20 Wines’ in 2021, ‘The Best Wines in South Africa’ and their choice of ‘Winery of the Year’? Well, good to see Vergelegen in the spotlight again: top estate, veteran winemaker, impressive track record. Interesting to see what Winemag rated most highly: Cavalli Filly Chenin Blanc 2020 and DeMorgenzon Maestro

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SA Sauvignon Blanc in delightfully good shape – Winemag Report

THERE WERE 125 entries from various parts of the South African winelands submitted for Winemag’s 2021 Prescient Sauvignon Blanc Report. Most were unwooded, some were wooded and some comprised blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon (albeit that this isn’t always disclosed on the labels). And there were plenty that delighted the panel of tasters including Winemag editor Christian Eedes (chair),

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SA Merlot still muddling along in 2021 – according to Winemag Report

‘EXCELLENT’ Merlot they found, but not one of the Top 10 in Winemag’s 2021 Prescient Report was regarded as ‘outstanding’ – none rated higher than 92/100 by the panel comprising editor Christian Eedes (chair), merchant James Pietersen of Cape Town’s Wine Cellar and Ndabezinhle Dube, F&B manager at the President Hotel in the Mother City. “Merlot’s crucial characterisitc is arguably its

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IWC panels loved SA Chardonnay, Chenin, Pinot… Cab, Shiraz less so

FRANCE and Australia were the most successful nations at the 2021 International Wine Challenge in London, one of the biggest competitions of its kind – thousands of entries from over 50 countries, with numerous panels judging over a couple of weeks. South Africa secured 13 gold medals, compared to France’s 77 and Australia’s 49, and Elgin cellar Paul Cluver was

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Hemel-en-Aarde’s Creation rated best wine tourism destination in SA

CELEBRATING excellence and innovation, the ‘Great Wine Capitals’ Best Of Wine Tourism Awards recognise the top experiences on offer to those visiting the 11 greatest wine regions of the world, although, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only six of the 11 regions participated in the 2020 contest. The participants this year comprised 200 entrants in the winelands surrounding ​​​Adelaide (Australia),

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Make no mistake! Merlot at its finest is as luscious and velvety as can be

“MERLOT SOMETIMES gets a bad rap for being sweetish, soft and nothing more,” says Christian Eedes, Winemag.co.za editor and tasting panel chair. However, “the best examples are really luscious and velvety as only Merlot at its finest is able to be… Its crucial characteristic is not its flavour but its texture, which can be described in one word – smooth.

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Best meal in Cape winelands? La Colombe, Overture or Chefs Warehouse?

WHO WAS CELEBRATING most after the 2019 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards? Chef James Gaag of La Colombe at Silvermist Estate in Constantia, voted the top restaurant in South Africa, Bertus Basson of Eike and Overture at Hidden Valley in Stellenbosch who was judged Chef of the Year, or Ivor Jones of Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia who was considered No. 1

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Tough choosing top restaurants in Cape winelands, let alone entire SA

IT’S DIFFICULT to accept that of South Africa’s Top 30 restaurants in 2019, according to the critics and followers of the Eat Out restaurant guide, only five are located outside Cape Town and the surrounding winelands! Only one in Johannesburg? Only one in Durban? None in Bloemfontein, nor in Port Elizabeth? None at the country’s nature conservancies, game reserves, resorts? Oh

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Top SA wineland destinations include Vergelegen, Delaire Graff, Creation

THAT IT IS sponsored by the respected International Wine Challenge in the UK makes this 2019 list of the world’s 50 best wine farms notable, for sure. However, we are not told the names of the judges. What we are told is that ‘The World’s Best Vineyards Academy’ comprises nearly 500 leading wine aficionados, sommeliers, and luxury travel correspondents from

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No other SA white blend has rated so highly so long: Vergelegen G.V.B

SO CONSISTENT! None of South Africa’s other great white blends have been as highly rated for as long. With their Bordeaux-style Sauvignon Blanc Semillon combo, Vergelegen hasn’t missed a beat, so to speak. Anglo American’s flagship white wine from their estate on the slopes of the Helderberg in Somerset West has been a hit since the maiden vintage 2001 right

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Waterkloof voted top restaurant in Cape winelands – SA Eat Out Awards

  WATERKLOOF on the Sir Lowry’s Pass Road outside Somerset West has been ranked No. 1 in South Africa at the 2018 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards. The restaurants on three other Cape wine farms were also included in the country’s Top 10, with five more nominated for consideration. The winners were decided by a team of foodies led by top chef Margot

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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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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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What’s a fair price to pay for good SA wine, where to draw the line?

LEADING UK wine scribe Jancis Robinson writes on her website that South Africa’s industry is at “a very strange, possibly critical, point in its evolution.” She refers to “a serious cohort of radical and cohesive young winemakers forging a new wine identity for their country” (some of whom she had never heard of, because they are so ‘fledgling’). “There is

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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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Vergelegen hard to beat when it comes to Cape wine route destinations

SAO BENTO da Vitoria Monastery in Oporto, Portugal, was the venue for the 2016 Great Wine Capitals Global Networks’ Best of Wine Tourism Awards, the culmination of a competition entered by 359 wine estates from South Australia, Rioja in Spain, Bordeaux in France, the Cape winelands, Rheinhessen in Germany, Mendoza in Argentina, Porto in Portugal, Napa Valley in the USA and

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2015 Who’s Who of the Cape winelands: South Africa’s Top 50 cellars over the past 10 years, 2005 to 2014, champions all

THE NAMES of South Africa’s unfortified wine producers currently ranked among the Top 100 are included in the 2015 Classification based on consistently good reviews in blind tastings by panels of experts locally and around the globe. Of these, the country’s 50 most successful cellars – led by Kanonkop, Nederburg and Vergelegen – are spotlighted below. Bergkelder (Fleur du Cap) –

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