Category Archives: 2018

Wine Enthusiast of USA throws together a guide on South Africa’s best

THE MANAGING editor of Wine Enthusiast in the USA, Lauren Buzzeo is a fan of South Africa and a regular visitor to the country. The magazine is one of the most influential in America’s wine trade and has a significant following among wine consumers in the States, but given Buzzeo’s recent post on ‘Where to Find the Best South African

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South Africa’s 20 most successful wines on the world stage in 2018

Beyerskloof Faith 2014 (Stellenbosch), DeMorgenzon Reserve Chenin Blanc 2017 (Stellenbosch Kloof), Des Dieu Claudia Brut 2012 (Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge), Groot Constantia Grand Constance 2015 (Constantia), Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage 2015 (Stellenbosch-Bottelary), Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 2014 (Constantia), Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Shiraz 2015 (Stellenbosch), Leeuwenkuil Heritage Syrah 2015 (Swartland), Neil Ellis Jonkershoek Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 (Stellenbosch), Oak Valley Groenlandberg Chardonnay 2017 (Elgin), Paul Cluver Riesling Noble Late Harvest 2017 (Elgin), Paul Cluver Seven Flags Chardonnay 2017 (Elgin), Rustenberg Peter Barlow Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 (Simonsberg-Stellenbosch), Saronsberg Full

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The Experts’ Absolute Favourites: South Africa’s Champion Wines of 2018

  THE TROPHY winners, Best Wines Overall, Top of the Class, Wines of the Year – as singled out by the top panels locally and internationally. These are the most successful vintages from the winelands of South Africa on the world stage in 2018 – presented first by wine type and variety, then alphabetically together with info about the accolades, the

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Special vintage of Du Toitskloof Red Muscadel all but sold out

THERE’S a bit of ‘hush hush’ to this wine. It orginates from a single vineyard, within a few kilometers’ radius from the cellar outside Rawsonville, but nobody’s saying just where the block is to be found. It’s a little like gold, this red Muscat – with demand growing as word got around that the latest laureate is even better than the

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Uber Value SA Wine Guide 2018 – most highly rated at Under R100

THE VERY BEST VALUE wines of South Africa at under R100 a bottle in 2018. Gold medal or better, 90 points or more – judged against wines costing a lot more, by the top tasting panels locally and internationally. Just click on the links below to jump to uber value white wines, bubblies, pinks, reds and sweet wines. Alternatively, click

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Belief in and passion for Pinotage paying off at Beyerskloof

YOU COULD hardly script a better year for a winery, such have been the achievements surrounding the 30th anniversary of Beyerskloof. One of South Africa’s top red wine cellars, the Stellenbosch producer is unrivalled as a Pinotage specialist with four single-varietal expressions of South Africa’s most successful ‘indigenous’ wine grape cultivar, three Pinotage-led Cape Blends, one of the very few white

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Wine tasting in Franschhoek: where to, how much, pick of the wines

ONCE UPON a time, and not that long ago, Semillon – or Groendruif as some refer to it – was being touted as Franschhoek’s signature grape. These days, the ‘French Corner’ of South Africa’s winelands is more likely to prompt images of Chardonnay, red blends of one sort or another and Cap Classique sparkling wine. Plus, perhaps even more synonymous with this

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Where nature meets art meets wine: Saronsberg, Shiraz, Sensational

THE WINELANDS of Tulbagh are best known for Cap Classique, Pinotage and Shiraz. Or vice versa, you could say. And when it comes to Shiraz from this district in the Upper Breede River Valley, Saronsberg is second to none. From one of the Top 20 cellars in the country, both the Rhône-style blend Full Circle and the single-varietal Shiraz are among

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Simple, smart, superior red blend! Rhône-style Spier No. 3 still on song

THE CREATIVE Block range of wines from Spier in Stellenbosch is one that explores the art of blending, which in the case of No. 3 is about balancing the components of a Rhône-style combination, with Shiraz playing the leading role. The figure has to do with the number of varieties in the blend. And like its predecessors, the 2015 is rather

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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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Cap Classique extraordinaire! Villiera’s flagship bubbly in a class apart

“BRIGHT GOLD colour with brioche, buttered toast and apple pie nose. The fine bubbles are creamy on the rounded, full palate. Intense with a silky-smooth long finish. A joy!” These are the tasting notes of the judges at the 2018 International Wine & Spirit Competition who considered Villiera Monro Brut 2012 the best of over 200 sparkling wine entries from around

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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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Nectar of the Gods! Des Dieux Cap Classique first to achieve the double

BASED in the foothills of the highest mountain on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge where ‘Heaven touches Earth’, is Domaine des Dieux, ‘Field of the Gods’. To get to the tasting room, off the R320 between Hermanus and Caledon, involves negotiating a dirt track through the vineyards to up where the views are pretty good – and where it can get pretty windy.

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Cape Point Isliedh 2017 as highly regarded as every vintage before it

WITH THE possible exception of the 2014 vintage, Cape Point Vineyards’ flagship white blend Isliedh hasn’t missed a beat: among the Top 10 of its kind in the SA Wine Classification, one of South Africa’s Top 100 wines over the past 10 years, included in the Top Wine SA Hall of Fame and, at the time of writing, just voted

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Wine Tasting in Durbanville: where to go, what it costs, pick of the wines

WHILE RENOWNED for Sauvignon Blanc, red blends and Pinotage, Cape Town’s alternative to Constantia as a wine route less than 30km away and under half-an-hour’s drive from the heart of the Mother City also has a variety of other delights to offer by the glass – and the views are quite delightful, including some classics of Table Mountain from across the

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Swartland’s Mullineux named Platter’s Winery of the Year for third time

NINETY of the wines reviewed in the 2019 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide by Diners Club have been rated as ‘South African Classics’, awarded Five Stars and scored 95 points or more on a 100-point scale. Of these, all assessed by a panel of tasters judging blind (labels out of sight), 25 were honoured as Wines of the

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Wine Tasting in Constantia: where to go, what it costs, which to choose

WHO SAID the Constantia wine route was mostly about Sauvignon Blanc?! There’s some good Semillon, several fine white blends, a couple of very good Shiraz, and what about the decent Chardonnay, respectable Bordeaux-style red blends and those lovely dessert wines!   Beau Constantia Constantia Nek Tel: +27 (0)21 794 8632 Email: winesales@beauconstantia.com Web: www.beauconstantia.com Owners: Pierre & Cecilly du Preez Restaurant: Chefs

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Glenelly again on target with Reserve Chardonnay – and we’re loving it!

ALMOST sold out on the farm at the time of writing, the 2016 vintage of Glenelly Estate Reserve Chardonnay has proved very popular among aficionados around the world: gold medals at the Trophy Wine Show in South Africa, the Decanter World Wine Awards (UK) as well as at the Six Nations Wine Challenge in Australia. Based on the south-western foothills

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Morgenster trophy laureate promises even more if we can bear to wait

THE LATE Giulio Bertrand established a tradition at his Morgenster wine and olive farm in Somerset West of releasing Bordeaux-style reds only when they have had the benefits of ageing, although he and his winemakers weren’t averse to strutting the qualities of their beauties in their youth, too. So it is again with the 2014 Estate Reserve, a small quantity of

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Fryer’s Cove… Sauvignon Blanc specialists far from the madding crowd

TALK ABOUT extreme winemaking! There’s no cellar closer to the sea than the Fryer’s Cove outfit at the waterfront of Doringbaai, over 300km from Cape Town on South Africa’s West Coast. And their small blocks of vineyard nearby in the tiny ward of Bamboes Bay – north of Lambert’s Bay, south of Vredendal and Strandfontein – are so close to the

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