AS THE 2023 Chenin Safari was winding down, with the final leg of the six-week challenge just around the bend, who would be strutting their stuff at the festival in Franschhoek come Saturday 10 June, one wondered. Some of South Africa’s top Chenin producers put their hands up, including a couple whose wines have such good track records as to
Read moreTHE VERY BEST wines of South Africa at under 150 rand a bottle as reviewed by the top panels of experts locally and internationally in 2022. Rated 95 points or higher. There are even a few platinum award winners and trophy laureates among these recommendations, and those highlighted in RED are either included in the 2022 SA Wine Classification, such
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 moreOF THE 1120 entries from 23 countries in the 2022 edition of Concours Mondial du Sauvignon, 225 were wooded wines – including the 2021 vintage of The Journal from Diemersdal in Durbanville, one of nine trophy winners as the best of four gold medallists from South Africa. The other SA stars included the Coastal Cuvée 2017 from Delaire Graff in
Read moreAT R94 A BOTTLE, ‘The Innocent’ Syrah 2018 from the Lammershoek (lambs’ corner) farm outside Malmesbury is the only wine among the Top 10 in Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Shiraz Report priced at under R100 – pulling off the same feat that its predecessor achieved in the publisher’s 2019 report on South African expressions of the variety. Two other standouts in
Read moreTHE 2020 National Wine Challenge of South Africa – a.k.a. Robin von Holdt’s Top 100 Wines – attracted “well over 500” entries, down on previous years but not bad given the lockdown(s) due to Covid-19. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in the judges all being locally based, with Greg Sherwood MW unable to fly out from the UK. Ginette de Fleuriot
Read moreTHE POWERS that be at Winemag.co.za delay the announcement of exactly how the panel rated their South African favourites in the publication’s various category reviews – a Top 10 is all they’ll tell us in each instance until divulging the rankings / scores out of 100 and the names of all the winners at a gala function come the end
Read moreTHE 2019 Uber Value SA Wine Guide revisited – all of the prices updated following the annual general increases across the industry in March 2020, and excluding all of those wines that have sold out since the guide was first published last December. These are the very best value wines of South Africa at under R100 a bottle that were
Read moreTHE VAST majority of entries at the annual Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2020 were from the 2019 and 2018 vintages, but there was a South African that stood out for being way older than most: vintage 2012 of the Delaire Graff Coastal Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc, made using a combination of grapes sourced from the districts of Durbanville, Stellenbosch, Darling and
Read moreWHERE TO EAT on the Paarl Wine Route, on a farm, among the vines? And which wines to seek out, what the panels of experts have recommended recently? For lunch, your choices include Faber at Avondale, several options at Babylonstoren, the Goatshed at Fairview, Glen Carlou, The Kraal at Joostenberg, The Red Table at Nederburg, Rhebokskloof, the Deck at Ridgeback, Rupert &
Read moreYOU MIGHT well scratch your head on hearing the results of South Africa’s National Wine Challenge. Convener Robin von Holdt of BuyBetterWine chooses to release the results in tranches, and whereas it might seem logical to either build up to a climax or begin with the most special awards, he prefers to kick off with a function where only the
Read moreA CHECKLIST that will come in useful when next you head out wine-tasting or shopping on the Paarl wine route, the following are those whites, reds, bubblies and sweets with the very best track records from the cellars of the area according to the 2019 SA Wine & Cellar Classification. • For the full Paarl Wine Classification, click here. •
Read moreAS INTERESTING as the news that the Franschhoek Wine Tram service now includes two double-deckers that can carry more passengers and afford better views of the scenery, is that the rail transport connecting the town with the winelands has been extended to three more estates. Sure, you can hop on an open-sided bus and hop off at a number of estates
Read more“THE SAUVIGNON Blanc Interest Group of South Africa (SBIG) fosters excellence in making and marketing South African Sauvignon Blanc locally and internationally… The annual FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition was started in 2007 to promote innovation and excellence in the category and reward those making wines of true distinction.” So how did things pan out in the 2017 taste-off?
Read moreIT’S REPORTED that there were over 500 entries in the 2017 edition of the National Wine Challenge, now in its seventh year as a competition that culminates with awards for the Top 100 entries from South African vintners and Grand Cru awards for the wines judged to be best in each class. The number of submissions is some way off the
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