IT WAS A tussle between Meerlust and Kanonkop for the highest price fetched by South African wine at Strauss & Co’s ‘Bordeaux Auction’ conducted online mid-April 2024 – R4885pb paid for both a Meerlust Rubicon from the 1980s and a Kanonkop Paul Sauer not yet 10 years old. As for the French wines on sale, the most-in-demand included the reds
Read moreBOTTLES of the mysterious and rare George Spies Cabernet (Durbanville grapes, Paarl cellar) are regularly made available via the South African auction house Strauss & Co, with 750ml of the 1968 vintage sold during the Bordeaux Theme sale on 17 September 2023 going for over R23K – the highest price paid for a local wine on the day. That said, the
Read moreR44 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
Read moreKANONKOP, De Toren, Vilafonté, Meerlust, Raats, Alto… These were the most-wanted wines in terms of South African producers at Strauss & Co’s Bordeaux-themed auction conducted in Johannesburg mid-2022. Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2015 fetched nearly R4000 a bottle. SA ‘first growth’; good vintage. However, the really big-ticket items were from France, Italy and the USA: Pétrus, Screaming Eagle, Harlan, Haut Brion,
Read moreUPS AND DOWNS were the order of the day at Strauss & Co’s mid-year fine wine online auction on 7 June 2021. Some of the wines highlighted by the Wine Cellar merchants and the auctioneers prior to the sale with a Stellenbosch theme didn’t attract quite the level of interest that was anticipated. The case of Laurence Graff Reserve 2011
Read moreWOULDN’T it be something to see the luxury brands De Toren and 4G Wines slug it out in a head-to-head on auction, to test how seriously mature Meerlust Rubicon fares under the gavel against Kanonkop Paul Sauer of a similar age, or to get bidders to show which way they’re leaning these days when it comes to the sweets of
Read moreWHO ELSE among the top estates in South Africa would sometimes choose not to make their flagship wine, to skip a vintage in years when the quality or style isn’t quite as expected by the producer? At some wineries, when Mother Nature plays up or things go awry in the vineyard or cellar, they might try to explain it away
Read moreTHE LAST Strauss & Co Fine Wine Online Auction in 2020 comprised a sale of ultra rare Bordeaux, beginning with Cabernet Sauvignon and Bordeaux-style red blends from the Cape and finishing with some of the best from France. Top price paid for a South African beauty was R32 830 for a single bottle of 1966 GS Cabernet – not far
Read moreTHE ODDS are stacked in favour of the top-rated Chardonnay in SA Winemag’s 2020 Prescient Report coming from either Elgin or Stellenbosch. The announcement of who and what got the nod was put on hold until an awards function at the end of the year, but of the Top 10 we’re told that four are from Elgin and five are
Read moreSHEW! Over R85 000 paid for one of the most expensive wines in the world, a single bottle of the Merlot-driven Petrus, 1989 vintage, and nearly R74K forked out for another top wine from Bordeaux, three bottles of ‘first growth’ blend Haut-Brion, also 30 years old. But arguably more impressive at the Strauss & Co / Wine Cellar auction
Read moreHAVING RAISED over R17-million from the charitably-minded who attended the 2020 edition of The Cape Wine Auction at Boschendal in Franschhoek, the event increased the total amount raised since the inaugural sale in 2014 at Delaire Graff in Stellenbosch to over R100-million. Sponsored by Nedbank Private Wealth, the glamorous celebration of Wine South Africa unites the industry with the philanthropic
Read moreAFTER a bidding period lasting just over a week, the highest prices fetched for South African beauties at the inaugural Fine Wine Online Auction conducted by Strauss & Co in collaboration with merchant Wine Cellar and sommelier Higgo Jacobs were for the following: from Paarl cellars, KWV Tawny Port 1939, Veenwouden Classic 1993 and 1997 (red blend); from Somerset
Read moreESTABLISHED as the Nederburg Auction, Paarl, it was ‘reinvented’ in 2019 as the Cape Fine & Rare Wine Auction, held over two days in October at the Rupert Museum, Stellenbosch, with Charlie Foley of British auction house Christie’s wielding the gavel. Sponsored by Libertas Vineyards & Estates of Distell, the October sale is billed as one of the most
Read moreTHE MOST in-demand South African lots at the first Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction to be held in Cape Town, organised in collaboration with retailer Wine Cellar and sommelier Higgo Jacobs… Following the inaugural event in Johannesburg three months earlier, the Cape reds, whites and sweets to fetch over R2000 a bottle/750ml at the September sale were as follows:
Read moreINTERESTING it was to see the brands involved and what the charitably minded were keen to buy at the 2018 Cape Wine Auction hosted at Rustenberg and Tokara in Stellenbosch. The prime objective of the two-day event is to support children’s education in needy communities of the South African winelands, and to this end the amount raised came to R17.5 million.
Read moreTOP SA PINOT NOIR in 2013… The following wines achieved outstanding reviews from top panels judging ‘blind’: TOP SOUTH AFRICAN PINOT NOIR RATINGS IN 2013 Bouchard Finlayson Galpin Peak 2011 – 4½ Stars in Platter’s Guide Chamonix Reserve 2011 – Trophy at Classic Wine Trophy Competition Chamonix Reserve 2012 – Double Gold Medal at Six Nations Wine Challenge, 4½ Stars in Platter’s
Read moreTHE STAND-OUT Pinot Noir from South Africa, the best reviews from around the world – and as per usual there’s only a very select group of cellars in the Cape that can muster something very special from this ‘heartbreak’ grape: Bouchard Finlayson Tete de Cuvee Galpin Peak 2009 – gold medal at Five Nations Challenge Chamonix Reserve 2010 – trophy at Decanter
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