CHOICES CHOICES CHOICES… Tickets for ‘Wine on the Water’ in St Francis Bay are very hard to come by and those to the Stellenbosch Street Soirees are selling out fast. Interesting that the cellars exhibiting at Cape Town Fresh are mostly from outside CTN, with various districts all over the winelands represented. The Wellington festival will have somewhat of a
Read more♥ The top SA wine events scheduled to take place this month, August 2023. Just click on the links for more info, directions, tickets, etc. WINE TASTINGS OF NOTE 1 – 6 AUGUST Wine Town | Stellenbosch 4 & 5 AUGUST Stellenbosch Wine Festival 8 AUGUST Tasting from the Swartland | CTN 12 AUGUST Cap Classique First Star Course | Johannesburg 12 AUGUST
Read moreTHE TOP South African wine events taking place from July through August 2023 begin with a focus on Portuguese varieties and styles in Stellenbosch and wind up to the Cape Winemakers Guild Showcase tastings at the International Convention Centre in Cape Town and the Nedbank Atrium in Johannesburg. Event highlights in July include Caroline’s Red Wine Review at the V&A
Read moreALMOST EVERYBODY who’s anybody in the vineyards of Constantia was on the billboard of exhibitors expected to be serving their Sauvignon to wine lovers at Workshop 47 in Rosebank JHB in the first of two evening events this May. The notable no-show being Constantia Uitsig, an estate that’s not a member of the local wine route although one of THE
Read moreTHE WEATHERMAN promised sunshine on Sunday 30 April in Cape Town, but would-be picnickers were warned that it could be cloudy on Saturday the 29th, the first day of the Pick n Pay Wine & Food Festival at the Kenilworth Racecourse. Who knew what the weather would do when the roadshow got to Durban’s Chris Saunders Park in uMhlanga on
Read moreTHE MICHELANGELO wine tastings at Southern Sun’s Rosebank Hotel (JHB) and Garden Court uMhlanga (DBN) in April/May are appealing. Although the timing is rather unusual… Now into its 27th year since the inaugural Michelangelo Awards in 1997, the judging at the biggest competition of its kind in South Africa tends to take place around July/August, with the results announced in
Read moreOF COURSE wine ratings matter! Reviews by panels of experts, that is, i.e. if you want to gauge just how good a wine is. We’re talking about assessments of what’s in the glass by those in the know, labels out of sight – reaching consensus without being influenced by the brand status, marketing, winemaker or the location of the vineyards.
Read moreBRING OUT the tasting glasses! Just days after turning a page on the calendar, word came down the grapevine that new wine festivals have been planned and that some of the old favourites are making a comeback, having shut up shop during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. Besides the many and varied tastings and auctions being staged by specialist wine
Read moreCONSTANTIA Fresh dinners rather than a bash on the lawn. A Chenin Blanc picnic in Stellenbosch instead of a party on the beach in Cape Town. Then some belated tastings of 2020 Veritas award winners, the first of them to take place in Paarl. But there’s more! A different kind of sparkling wine festival in Franschhoek, food and wine affairs
Read moreAFTER the major Joburg wine fest that is WineX, comes a new Chenin celebration at the Perdeberg cellar in Paarl and a party of note in Riebeek Kasteel. The Veritas roadshow travels to Durban before ending in PE, while the Tops at Spar Wine Show will put up the tent in East London, then Nelspruit. Those up for a road
Read moreTHE TOPS at Spar Wine Show takes place in Menlyn Park, Pretoria, the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction at Spier in Stellenbosch. No, this Stellenbosch Wine Festival takes place at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg. The Old Vine Project Masterclass is hosted by Wine Menu in Kramerville, Johannesburg. The Institute of Cape Wine Masters will present an evening with
Read moreWHERE TO EAT on the Paarl Wine Route, on a farm, among the vines? And which wines to seek out, what the panels of experts have recommended recently? For lunch, your choices include Faber at Avondale, several options at Babylonstoren, the Goatshed at Fairview, Glen Carlou, The Kraal at Joostenberg, The Red Table at Nederburg, Rhebokskloof, the Deck at Ridgeback, Rupert &
Read moreFROM Cape Town to Cornwall, Pretoria to the USA, Hermanus, Franschhoek, Soweto and back… There’s plenty for wine lovers to look forward to this month, which began with a South African winefest in London, ending with another in Hermanus. There’s an auction of note, or what about a gathering of the curious and enlightened for a wine and culinary
Read moreTHE WINE CELLAR, Wine Menu, Caroline’s, Tops at Spar and the Institute of Cape Wine Masters have lined up tastings aplenty to look forward to in Johannesburg, Stellenbosch, Cape Town and PE this month. It’s also Bastille Festival time in Franschhoek, there’s Soetes & Soup on the menu in the Breedekloof and, having established a fine reputation at The Old
Read moreTHEY CONCEDE that it was challenging for the panel to review a line-up of very different red blends, some Shiraz-led, Cape Blends in which Pinotage dominated, some including more than half a dozen component varieties, others made from grapes usually grown for making port-style wines, etc. But Christian Eedes, chairman of the judges including Roland Peens and James Pietersen of
Read moreIT WASN’T that long ago when the edibles in a Cape winery’s tasting room were limited to water biscuits or cream crackers. Today, some of South Africa’s best restaurants are located alongside some of the country’s top cellars and matching wine with food at the cellar door extends to a variety of different experiences, some offered even where there aren’t complete meals to
Read morePLATTER’S South African Wine Guide is not without its shortcomings, but after 35 years it still holds plenty of sway among those who are partial to the liquid pleasures of this country and give a damn about what’s in their glass. Published as it is towards the end of every year, it’s the last major assessment of SA wine quality and
Read moreTHE CELLARS of David Nieuwoudt in the Cederberg, Thys Louw at Diemersdal in Durbanville and Nick van Huyssteen at Saronsberg in Tulbagh where Dewaldt Heyns holds the reins have been particularly successful of late, with the Stellenbosch cellars of Kleine Zalze and Simonsig as well as KWV of Paarl also shining again and again in various categories. South Africa’s top-scoring wines at the top tasting panels around the world in
Read moreFRANSCHHOEK is even more cool following the introduction of a Wine Tram. It’s a pity that it only stops at two of the farms – Grande Provence and Rickety Bridge – on a route that begins close to the ticket office in the Bijoux Centre on Huguenot Road, but then the trip also includes an option to transfer from the
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