STELLENBOSCH Vineyards on the Lynedoch side of town are one of the very few producers of wine made from Therona grapes, grown only in South Africa. The variety was largely thanks to the late Prof Christiaan Orffer of Stellenbosch University, who in the 1950s crossed Crouchen Blanc with Chenin Blanc – the objective being to raise the standard of Chenin
Read moreA NUMBER of things come to mind on perusal of the 2022 Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge results. One is how many of the top wines originate in old vineyards, four of which include vines over 50 years old. Another is the depth of quality shown by the leading producers, some of them shining with Chenins other than
Read moreSOUTH AFRICA came away from the 2022 International Wine & Spirit Competition (UK) with more gold medals than any other country, including France. Of the thousands of wines entered, nearly 700 were from 169 producers in the Cape, with 88% of these awarded a medal: 28 gold, 234 silver and 355 bronze. Top-scoring for South Africa were Kanonkop Cabernet Sauvignon
Read moreON THE EVE of the 100th test match between the Springboks and the All Blacks, on a rugby field in Australia, came the news that the countries’ winemakers had all but shared the spoils in an encounter featuring some of their top Sauvignon Blancs. The overall winner was South Africa, however the two top-scoring wines were from New Zealand, namely
Read moreIT’S ARGUABLE that at under R100 a bottle, if you’re weighing up South Africa’s various wine categories, Sauvignon Blanc generally offers best value-for-money. Sure, there are now very few top Sauvignons in the SA Wine Classification at this level, price wise. However, at the time of writing, five of the finalists in the country’s 2020 Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition
Read moreTHE VAST majority of entries at the annual Concours Mondial du Sauvignon 2020 were from the 2019 and 2018 vintages, but there was a South African that stood out for being way older than most: vintage 2012 of the Delaire Graff Coastal Cuvée Sauvignon Blanc, made using a combination of grapes sourced from the districts of Durbanville, Stellenbosch, Darling and
Read moreWHAT ARE the chances! Using grapes gown near Elim, Cape Agulhas, they top-scored in Winemag’s SA Shiraz roundup, and with grapes grown near Ceres they topped the charts first in the publication’s SA Pinot Noir review and then in their Prescient Chardonnay Report in which 65 South African producers participated. All in the same year! Congratulations to cellarmaster Charles
Read moreYOU MIGHT well scratch your head on hearing the results of South Africa’s National Wine Challenge. Convener Robin von Holdt of BuyBetterWine chooses to release the results in tranches, and whereas it might seem logical to either build up to a climax or begin with the most special awards, he prefers to kick off with a function where only the
Read moreTHERE WERE around 600 wines judged at South Africa’s National Wine Challenge 2018 convened by Robin von Holdt’s Buybetterwine.com. The judges comprised chairman Greg Sherwood (UK Master of Wine), Ginette de Fleuriot (Cape Wine Master), sommelier Wayve Kolvesohn, with winemakers Duncan Savage, Matthew Day of Klein Constantia, Richard Kershaw (Master of Wine) and JD Pretorius of Steenberg. Sommelier Higgo Jacobs was
Read more“THE SAUVIGNON Blanc Interest Group of South Africa (SBIG) fosters excellence in making and marketing South African Sauvignon Blanc locally and internationally… The annual FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition was started in 2007 to promote innovation and excellence in the category and reward those making wines of true distinction.” So how did things pan out in the 2017 taste-off?
Read moreIT’S REPORTED that there were over 500 entries in the 2017 edition of the National Wine Challenge, now in its seventh year as a competition that culminates with awards for the Top 100 entries from South African vintners and Grand Cru awards for the wines judged to be best in each class. The number of submissions is some way off the
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