Tag Archives: Rust en Vrede

Savage red blend outdoes Sadie’s in auction of 10-year-olds

STRAUSS & Co’s wine department was happy with the results of their timed online ‘2014 Vintage’ auction that came to a close on 11 March ’24. Consultant Roland Peens, director of fine wine merchant ‘Wine Cellar’ in Cape Town, reported that the Reserve was R545 150, the Hammer R718 100, Inclusive R841 973 – an 89% sell through with 12 lots unsold.

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Stellenbosch Res steps up a gear… Haskell winds it down…

IT’S GOODBYE to the Longtable restaurant at Haskell Vineyards and hello to Stellenbosch Reserve – for lunch (Tue-Sun) and dinner (Thu-Sat), classy yet casual, and a tasting room offering wines from the ‘Stellenbosch Collection’. Think pizza and chicken from the rotisserie, but also a lamb dish, beef fillet, pan-seared fish… On the the winelist and in the tasting room: the

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Finest restaurants in the Cape winelands – 2023/24 update

THEY’RE IN AGREEMENT… The Top 3 places to eat at on South African wine farms are Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia, La Colombe at Silvermist in Constantia and La Petite Colombe at Leeu Estates in Franschhoek, i.e. included among both the 3-Star Restaurants honoured at the Eat Out Awards of New Media/Media 24 and those deemed worthy of a ‘Three

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What to drink as discerning supporters of Springbok Rugby?

WHETHER in the build up to the game, during the match, in celebrating victory or to console yourself in the event of defeat, surely the Rugby World Cup final warrants something appropriate in the glass for any self-respecting fan of the game. And for Springbok supporters, what better choice than a drink from the home of a Springbok, present or

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Eat Out Awards: La Colombe best restaurant in Cape winelands

WHO SAW that coming! With Chef Johannes Richter in charge of the kitchen, The Livingroom at Summerhill Guest Estate outside Durban has been named Restaurant of the Year at South Africa’s 2022 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards. Best in the Cape winelands? La Colombe at Silvermist in Constantia Nek, where Chef James Gaag orchestrates the food offering. Eat Out Chef

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Eat Out critics recommend Top 12 restaurants among the vines

ALMOST just as interesting as who is included on the A-list of South Africa’s leading restaurant guide, is who is left off. Of the 42 establishments Eat Out have applauded with star ratings in 2022, there are 12 in the Cape winelands, i.e. among the vines, near the cellars (see below), with quite a few more on the high streets

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10-year-old Mullineux hits sweet spot at Strauss auction

RATHER IMPRESSIVE! At the sale of 10-year-old wines by the South African auction house Strauss & Co, somebody paid over R4000 for a bottle of dessert wine from Andrea and Chris Mullineux’s Roundhouse farm outside Malmesbury in the Swartland. The bottle of ‘Essence’ is just 250ml in size, which would put the cost of a standard 750ml equivalent at over

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Some say Syrah, some say Shiraz – Top 10 in 2021 Winemag Report

“SOUTH AFRICAN Syrah can no longer be neatly pigeonholed,” says Winemag editor Christian Eedes in the 2021 Prescient Shiraz Report. “Expect everything from delicate,  very fine, to ultra-glossy,  rich wines – and the Shiraz/Syrah distinction is no longer really a clue to what’s inside the bottle.” There were 96 entries from 75 producers located in various areas of the Cape

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De Compostella brightest of the stars at sale of Stellenbosch beauties

UPS 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

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Swartland most in demand of SA wines at first Strauss auction of 2021

STRAUSS & CO kicked off their 2021 fine wine auction calendar by way of a ‘Rhône collection’, beginning with top South African producers such as Boschkloof, De Trafford, Hartenberg and Rust en Vrede of Stellenbosch as well as David & Nadia, Mullineux, Porseleinberg and Sadie of the Swartland, followed by famous benchmarks from French producers including Alain Graillot, Michel Chapoutier,

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Growing number of knowledgeable bidders vying for CWG Auction wines

A RECORD number of 163 bidders registered for the 2020 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction hosted by Bonhams of London, with 82 from South Africa and 81 from across the globe. 65% of sales went to South African buyers, the balance going to collectors and merchants in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore

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Strauss & Co fine wine auction both confirming and confounding

FOR THE MOST PART, the results of Strauss & Co’s ‘Rhône-themed’ fine wine online auction conducted in collaboration with the merchants Wine Cellar and sommelier Higgo Jacobs from 6 to 14 April 2020 were to be expected. But how impressive was the demand for that youngster from Donovan Rall, and could that old Zandvliet really still be alive and well?

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21st Century Cape Classics! Rust en Vrede Classified among top SA reds

  IT WAS IN 1694 that Rust en Vrede was established among the foothills of what became known as the Helderberg area of the Stellenbosch winelands. The Engelbrecht family have been the proprietors since the late 1970s, and for over 40 years the farm has been one of South Africa’s leading producers, specialising in red wines. The ‘Estate’ blend of

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Best meal in Cape winelands? La Colombe, Overture or Chefs Warehouse?

WHO WAS CELEBRATING most after the 2019 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards? Chef James Gaag of La Colombe at Silvermist Estate in Constantia, voted the top restaurant in South Africa, Bertus Basson of Eike and Overture at Hidden Valley in Stellenbosch who was judged Chef of the Year, or Ivor Jones of Chefs Warehouse at Beau Constantia who was considered No. 1

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Wow! Platter’s 35 superstars include a Viognier, and a Wellington Port!

LONG GONE are the days when a 5 Star rating was the ultimate accolade in Platter’s South African Wine guide, one of the very few publications in the world of wine still carrying stars to signify levels of distinction. The book and the online platform now also include scores according to a 100-point system but the powers that be can’t

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Tough choosing top restaurants in Cape winelands, let alone entire SA

IT’S DIFFICULT to accept that of South Africa’s Top 30 restaurants in 2019, according to the critics and followers of the Eat Out restaurant guide, only five are located outside Cape Town and the surrounding winelands! Only one in Johannesburg? Only one in Durban? None in Bloemfontein, nor in Port Elizabeth? None at the country’s nature conservancies, game reserves, resorts? Oh

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Winemag’s Signature Red Blend Report not without some controversy

“PERHAPS the ‘Cape Blend’ is simply a concept that has run out of time” – Winemag’s Christian Eedes, commenting on the poor showing and no-shows by Pinotage-driven combos for the publication’s 2019 Signature Red Blend Report. Perhaps what many Cape Blend producers have a problem with is the random nature of this competition whereby almost anything goes – apart from

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No surprise as R&V stars in Cabernet report with not one wine but two!

  THE ENGELBRECHT family and their team have maintained Rust en Vrede’s reputation as one of South Africa’s top red wine cellars for the past 40 years or so, ever since the Stellenbosch estate began specialising in Cabernet and Shiraz, either in collaboration or on their own. All of these reds are Classified, with the Estate blend as well as

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Still very good Cabernet to be had at around R100pb – Winemag Report

MORGENSTER Cab 2014 at R100 a bottle, Croydon Covenant Cab 2017 at R110, Glenelly Glass Collection Cab 2016 at R115 and Maastricht Cab 2017 at R120. These are the best-priced of the top-scoring wines in the 2019 Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report compiled by Winemag.co.za. The most glowing assessments went to the Croydon and to a 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon from Rust

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Stellenbosch pulls ahead of Franschhoek in battle for status of SA winelands gourmet capital – that’s according to the 2015 editions of the leading restaurant guides

THE RESTAURANT critics are largely in agreement… The top dining venue in South Africa for 2014 is The Test Kitchen at The Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, Cape Town, with Luke Dale-Roberts the chef-owner and Wayve Kolevsohn the somellier: third Restaurant of the Year accolade at the 2014 Eat Out Mercedes Benz Awards, 5 Stars at the 2014 Rossouw’s Diners Club Awards, one

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