WHAT a lovely collection of stories and images associated with the 2019 edition of the Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge! A new label on David Nieuwoudt’s Five Generations. Classical music playing to the vines and wines at Wendy Appelbaum’s DeMorgenzon. A tribute to Cape Town’s company gardens (artwork on back label). A river analogy from Flagstone. A
Read moreTOP MUSCADELS from the Cape remain oh such good fortified dessert wines, but oh so underrated – downplayed, you could argue, even by some of the producers themselves, let alone consumers with a sweet tooth who also seem to place a higher value on unfortified desserts including Noble Late Harvest, Natural Sweet and Straw Wine. The Muskadel SA association doesn’t have
Read moreSUCH CONSISTENCY! Virtually all of the 2018 Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge winners are regular visitors to the podiums at various competitions, with five of their beauties among the top Chenins in the SA Wine Classification and three in the Top Wine SA Hall of Fame. From various districts and wards, the champions include a range of styles. The
Read moreSPEAKING for the Breedekloof Makers, Attie Louw of Opstal Estate in the Slanghoek ward north-west of Rawsonville and Worcester reports that since 2015 the band of winemakers have been upping their efforts in focusing on the crafting of small-volume, boutique Chenin Blanc. They have committed to emphasising the [top] quality that specially selected, diverse sites in the Breede River Valley
Read moreIMBUKO of Wellington has been judged Best Value Producer in Getaway magazine’s 2017 ‘Best Value Wines’ Guide, with three Imbuko bottlings among the 14 winners of a competition culminating in Value Awards for South African wines selling at no more than R80 pb. Those offering ‘best bang for your buck’ were mainly from Wellington, Worcester and the Breedekloof wards of
Read moreIT’S A LOVELY drive through the countryside to the vineyards of Slanghoek Valley. Visitors typically head out along the N1 highway, taking the R101 to Rawsonville just east of the Du Toitskloof Pass/Huguenot Tunnel (or via Worcester) before turning north along ‘The Route Less Travelled’ than most others in the Cape winelands. It’s alongside the Slanghoek Road in the Breedekloof that the
Read moreWELL WOULD YOU look at that! While the trophy winner at this year’s CAPPA Port Challenge is again from Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo, three of the six gold medal-winning producers are not from the ‘Port Capital’ of South Africa! Besides the Cape champion and runner-up overall from Boplaas, a wine from De Krans and another from Peter Bayly (all of Calitzdorp), two of
Read moreTHERE ARE THOSE that can be too spirity, over the top, but the leading examples are quite wonderful among the dessert wine offerings of the Cape. At their best, the fortified red and white Muscadels and Jerepigos made from Muscat grape varieties – typically d’Alexandrie or de Frontignan – show complexity and alluring sweetness without being cloying. And generally speaking, they’re
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