FOR ALL of the South African wines at under R100 a bottle that have received good reviews during the past year, see here. Two of the most recent finds well worth considering come from the Griers of Villiera in the Koelenhof area of Stellenbosch: two blends, a red and a white, each selling for R55 at the cellar door –
Read moreWE SEE where they’re going with their Winelist, but The Sommeliers Selection takes a bit of getting used to – adjusting to the calibration, you could say. Of over 300 entries, 72 made the cut, all accorded the same recognition, but with no scores given, no stars or medals. Although, among the Listed competition winners there is reference to four
Read moreTHEY CONCEDE that it was challenging for the panel to review a line-up of very different red blends, some Shiraz-led, Cape Blends in which Pinotage dominated, some including more than half a dozen component varieties, others made from grapes usually grown for making port-style wines, etc. But Christian Eedes, chairman of the judges including Roland Peens and James Pietersen of
Read moreTHE Cape of Good Hope range in the portfolio of Anthonij Rupert Wines, Franschhoek, was launched in 2011 as part of proprietor Johann Rupert’s initiative begun in 2006 to help protect the old vines of the Cape as producers of distinctive, terroir-specific expressions of various grape varieties. One of these treasured ‘pieces of history’ comprises bush-vine Semillon on Henk Laing’s
Read moreCLICK HERE if you want jump to a record of every South African wine at under R100 to achieve a good review from one of the top panels in 2018 – complete with what they achieved and where the producers are located on the various wine routes of the country. See below for the top achievers in this regard during
Read moreJUST PRIOR to South Africa’s annual general wine price increases in March and April 2018, grape farmers were forecasting the smallest crop since 2005 and the financial pressure on wine producers continued to mount. In response, Vinpro MD Rico Basson advocated during his ‘state of the industry’ review that pushing up prices was a means of dealing with the situation. And growing in
Read moreBACK IN THE DAY, when the first SA Wine & Cellar Classification was published, the top producers were Classified as Boekenhoutskloof, De Toren, De Trafford, Graham Beck, Jordan, Kanonkop, Kanu, Neil Ellis, Rust en Vrede, Rustenberg, Simonsig, Stellenzicht, Thelema, and Vergelegen. Thirteen years later, most of these cellars continue at the forefront of the South African wine industry as regards
Read moreBASED ON THE BEST track records in over 30 local and international forums for the assessment of wine quality and interest value over the past 10 years, the South African Wine & Cellar Classifications celebrate the country’s leading outfits – those regularly on top form, their product judged top-notch again and again, year after year. To be eligible for the
Read moreINCLUDING South Africa’s most highly rated wines as reviewed by top judging panels locally and/or internationally in 2017. See HERE for the panels whose reviews counted, or see HERE for all of the top SA wine ratings during the past two years together with details of the accolades. EXCLUDING wines sold only on auction, wines sold only on export markets, wines sold out long
Read moreIF YOU’RE contemplating which Franschhoek wineries to buy from, the following have the best track records in the valley over the past 10 years – full SA Wine & Cellar Classifications here. ALLÉE BLEUE Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Chenin Blanc L’Amour Toujours (Red Blend) Pinotage BELLINGHAM The Bernard Series Basket Press Syrah The Bernard Series Bush Vine Pinotage The Bernard Series
Read morePERHAPS THE most surprising inclusion among the 20 finalists in the run-up to the 2016 Absa Top 10 Pinotage awards is Oupa Bull Reserve 2015. Paarl visitors might have come across the humble farm De Zoete Inval where fifth-generation winemaker John Robert Frater and the team replanted in 2005 and feel that the vines are “now old enough to realise their
Read moreGOLD MEDAL winners at the third Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships in London included two of South Africa’s Cap Classiques: the premium Graham Beck Cuvée Clive 2009 from Robertson and Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut 2010 from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge outside Hermanus. All told, there were 149 gold and 143 silver medallists – the Cape’s Le Lude and Wildekrans among
Read moreAT THE TOP of the list when it comes to South Africa’s most successful wines on the show circuit during the first half of 2016 are a variety of beauties, red and white, dry to sweet – see below. Two are from the Delaire Graff ‘resort’ in Banghoek off the Helshoogte Pass, surely on track to become one of the Top
Read moreTHERE were 59 wines from 46 cellars entered for Winemag.co.za’s 2016 Riscura Red Hot Wine Awards for South Africa’s Bordeaux-Style red blends. As to be expected, perhaps, most of the top scores went the way of Stellenbosch outfits – the exceptions being Diemersdal in Durbanville, Creation on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge between Hermanus and Caledon, and Groot Constantia, whose 2013 Gouverneurs Reserve was judged
Read moreOF COURSE, the R15-million raised for various charities thanks to the third AfrAsia Bank Cape Wine Auction – this time at Klein Constantia – was laudable. A worthy cause, for sure: education of the needy in the Cape winelands. But the annual fundraiser also points to hedonistic stuff, highlighting decadent things enjoyed by those fortunate or deserving enough to indulge in the ultimate taste
Read moreWHEN a group of Stellenbosch (and Somerset West) wine producers collaborated to present a line-up of 20 Cabernet Sauvignons to media and industry folk on the occasion of the Cape Wine 2015 trade show, it was to be expected that Thelema would count among the beauties included in a tasting billed as the ‘Kingdom of Cabernet’. The Webb family’s Thelema Mountain
Read moreFOR YEARS the reputation of Fleur du Cap as a collection of top quality, interesting wines from Distell’s Bergkelder in Stellenbosch was built mainly on the strength of whites in the ‘Unfiltered’ range – such was the consistency that Fleur du Cap Unfiltered soon ranked among South Africa’s top-ranked classified Chardonnays, Semillons, Viogniers and white blends. And it wasn’t long before the
Read moreFINDING good wine on sale for less than R50 a bottle has become a big ask, and not only in terms of reds. It might be so that there’s far less rubbish being made these days, but at under R50 there’s plenty of plonk, pedestrian and boring stuff as well as simple fruity drinks that are more like cooldrinks than products of the vine.
Read moreTHE LAUNCH of Simonsig’s ‘Garland’ Cabernet and Neil Ellis’s ‘Webb Ellis’ Cabernet Shiraz blend brought the number of Top 100 SA Wine Cellars selling recent releases for over R1000 a ‘pop’ in 2015 to nine – nobody’s dared to seal their iconic wines and luxury stuff with a screwcap, not yet! And no doubt the number will climb further before the
Read moreNEDERBURG Private Bin Eminence Natural Sweet Muscadel 2008 placed among the Top 10 at the 2015 Muscats-du-Monde in the Languedoc Roussillon region of France. The only other South African gold medallist was the 2010 Eminence, and the only other South African wine to earn a medal of any sort in the competition was the Orange River Cellars Red Muscadel 2013, which won
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