Wine Concepts are thrilled to invite wine lovers to their annual Seductive Sauvignons Wine Festival. Following previous successes, this year’s event promises to be an exclusive evening of exceptional wine tasting. The festival will feature an exciting, diverse selection of latest-release Sauvignon Blancs (including bubblies and dessert wines), current vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon as well as blends incorporating either Sauvignon
Caroline’s 2024 edition of her annual Red Wine Review, hailed as one of the most prestigious tasting events on the South African wine calendar, will be staged on Thursday 25 July in the Members’ Lounge at the DHL Stadium alongside Fritz Sonnenburg Road in Green Point, Cape Town. Hosted by Caroline Rillema of the legendary Caroline’s Fine Wine Cellar, this
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes! Or doesn’t… Apparently some of those bidding during the timed online auction of sweet wines that concluded on 10 June ’24 regarded the 38-year-old 1986 vintage of Vin de Constance to be much better (or much more rare?) than the 37-year-old 1987: a 500ml bottle of the ever-so-slightly older vintage fetched R58 625 including
SPECIALIST retailer Wine Concepts is thrilled to invite Cape Town residents and visitors to their annual festival unlike any other in South Africa: The Grape Escape! Following the success of the event in previous years, this year’s festival – to be held at Kirstenbosch for the first time – promises to be an exceptional evening of wine tasting featuring an
MANY WHO love South African wine have dreamed about but never managed to arrange a stayover in the Eastern Cape town of Graaff-Reinet (or Nieu Bethesda) for the annual ‘Stoep Tasting’. It’s become so popular, with tickets selling out and accommodation booked up weeks in advance… so in demand that this year the organisers have doubled up and there are
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
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.
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
THE Sadie Family of the Paardeberg outside Malmesbury in the Swartland dominated proceedings in terms of the highest prices paid for South African wines at the first Strauss & Co wine auction of 2024, a Rhône Theme sale conducted online. Sadie’s Columella red blend was in particularly high demand, with 96 bottles going for R4213pb on average including commissions. The
AS IF it had been stage-managed! Just over a week after The Sadie Family was lauded for the umpteenth time as South Africa’s top cellar in the 2024 edition of Platter’s guide, the results of a poll conducted by Winemag.co.za and then of an auction by Strauss & Co served to confirm the status of the country’s No. 1 –
NOVEMBER 2023 1 NOVEMBER Caroline’s White Wine Review | Cape Town 1 NOVEMBER Veritas Tasting | Johannesburg 4 NOVEMBER Cap Classique Affair | Stellenbosch 4 & 5 NOVEMBER Pick n Pay Wine & Food Festival | Johannesburg 4 NOVEMBER Swartland Seaside Party | Saldanha 8 NOVEMBER Iconic Sauvignon Blancs | Cape Town 9 NOVEMBER Botriver Vineyards Roadshow | Johannesburg 9 NOVEMBER Veritas Tasting |
Caroline’s annual White Wine Review, hailed as one of the most coveted tasting events on the South African wine calendar, returns to The Lookout Venue at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Wednesday 1 November. Presented by Caroline Rillema of the legendary Caroline’s Fine Wine Cellar, this world-class showcase gives wine enthusiasts the rare opportunity to discover and savour the
FROM A SINGLE, east-facing vineyard in Franschhoek, planted around the time that Leeu Passant was founded just 10 years ago, “this is the first release of this stunning and classy Cabernet Franc,” says winemaker Andrea Mullineux of the wine that fetched the highest price paid at the 2023 Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Auction. “These steep, terraced slopes have a permanent
WHAT A LINE-UP of top SA wine events to look forward to in October ’23! In Johannesburg: WineX and Veritas. And in the Cape: the Chardonnay & Pinot Noir Celebration, Veritas Cape Town, Swartland Sosiaal in Piketberg and the CWG Auction, Somerset West. Then, come November: Caroline’s White Wine Review in Cape Town; the Botriver Vineyards Roadshow and Pick n
BOTTLES 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
HIGHLIGHTS of the Chenin & Pinotage online sale by South African auction house Strauss & Co on 11 September ’23 – wines that fetched over R2000 a bottle on the day: CHENIN BLANC Sadie Family’s Skurfberg 2015 R44 555 (US$2360) paid for 6×750ml: R7425/750ml Sadie Family’s ‘T Voetpad 2017 R18 760 (US$994) paid for 3×750ml: R6253/750ml Alheit Radio Lazarus 2015 R9967
THEY CAN’T say with absolute certainty whether it was made in 1791 or 1890, but “due to the colour and aromas” it’s believed to be the former. The unlabelled, handblown bottle is small, half a standard 750ml measure of ‘Constantia Sweet’, acquired by Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery (now Heineken Beverages) at a London auction in 1974. Recently resealed by Amorim Cork
♥ 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
THE 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
“A fun, engaging and educational way to learn…” That’s how David Clarke of Ex Animo describes his wine school – a new extension to his boutique-wine business in Woodstock, Cape Town – that will kick off in July with a course about ‘The Basics of South African Wine’. Entertaining, no official acreditation, no exams, four midweek evening sessions. “By the
