Tag Archives: blanc de noir

South Africa’s standout Rosés on the increase, but let’s keep it real

THE 2023 vintage of Riebeek Cellars Pinotage Rosé was judged the overall winner in the 2023 edition of Rosé Rocks, a competition focused on South Africa’s ‘pink’ wines – Rosé and Blanc de Noir, still and sparkling, sweet and dry. Unfortunately, the conveners don’t divulge the Top 3, Top 6, Top 10 or Top 12, and we aren’t given the

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Does South African Rosé rock, or what?! Prices on the rise

WE MIGHT never know whether the pink wine from Aaldering of Devon Valley in Stellenbosch was a contender for one of the 2022 Pinotage Rosé Awards. It might have been interesting to see whether the panel appointed by the Pinotage Association concurred with that at the Michelangelo Awards (SA) who a few weeks earlier had presented a trophy no less

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Who says there’s nothing to beat Rosé from the Med? SA Rosé Rocks!

THE FELLAS are just too nice, is all. The Rosé Rocks convenors – media man Eamon McLoughlin and Cape Wine Master Allan Mullins – are fans of the category, eager to raise the status of wines that, apart from the ‘pink’ bottle-fermented bubblies, often tend to be dismissed by snooty critics. Of the 147 entries in the 2020 competition, the

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“South Africa is producing world-class Rosé!” – Allan Mullins CWM

  THERE ARE some quaint names among South Africa’s 2019 Rosé Rocks competition winners: “The Quintessential Couple” (Bellingham), “Pyjama Bush” (Darling Cellars), “Frankly My Dear” (Esona) and “The Strawberry” (Mooiplaas), for example. Hopefully they’ll be back again next year, and then some; good, long track records are not something that pink, salmon and onion-skin-colour wines are renowned for in South

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Rosé Rocks again in 2016 with a host of varieties, sparkling and non

THERE HAVE been leading Cap Classique sparkling wine houses fielding good Rosé for some time now, whereas there still aren’t many of South Africa’s very best red or white wine cellars that produce Rosé or Blanc de Noir or Blush without a bubble – and those that do seem to dabble in it occasionally rather than commit in a serious fashion year

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White Cab, White Merlot, White Pinotage… not your typical Rosé or Blanc de Noir

THE TERMS Rosé, Blush and Blanc de Noir describe ‘white’ wines made from ‘black’ grapes, grapes that are actually red in colour… Typically they involve a gentle pressing of the grapes, limiting the time that the juice and the skins spend in contact with each other, and then proceeding with production along similar lines to wines made from ‘white’ grapes, grapes which actually range from

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