ELGIN is best known for Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc… Merlot less so. Chenin Blanc even less so. Yet Elgin Merlot and Chenin are what Cape wine producers excelled with most at the 2022 Global Fine Wine Challenge, hosted in Sydney, with the competing nations including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA. In previous years, South Africa
Read moreIT’S NOT a variety that the Cape is famous for, and yet! Of the 118 wines from 17 countries entered in the 2022 Drinks Business Global Malbec Masters held in the UK, one of the 10 to emerge top of the class was a South African: Doolhof Bloedklip 2018, WO Limietberg-Wellington. In a category dominated by South America, seven of
Read moreIT WAS ‘all’ about Alheit at Strauss & Co’s ‘Young Guns’ wine auction. Well, Crystallum got a look-in with their Pinot Noir, but otherwise the attention of the big spenders was focused mainly on the Chenin Blancs of winemaker Chris Alheit – he who is based on the Ridge in Hemel-en-Aarde between Hermanus and Caledon but who sources his grapes
Read moreWELL HOW about that! Following the announcement of the “pinnacle” awards in Platter’s 2023 South African Wine Guide and still in advance of the 744-page printed version becoming available, the publishers have divulged the scores of the 8000-plus wines reviewed in this, the 43rd edition of the book retailing at R399. Whereas at first we were told the names of
Read moreWHO 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
Read moreANNOUNCED in advance of the book going on sale at retail stores around 10 December, the award winners showcased in the 2023 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide include 26 Wines of the Year and 196 Five Star laureates. To achieve a 5 Star rating requires a score of 95 or higher on a 100-point scale, involving a team
Read moreTHE VERY BEST wines of South Africa at under 150 rand a bottle as reviewed by the top panels of experts locally and internationally in 2022. Rated 95 points or higher. There are even a few platinum award winners and trophy laureates among these recommendations, and those highlighted in RED are either included in the 2022 SA Wine Classification, such
Read more‘EXTRAORDINARY. Profound.’ That’s what the Winemag judges thought of Koelenhof Winery’s ‘Stellenbosch 1679′ Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 when reviewing it for the 2022 Prescient Report. The only wine among the 64 entries from 51 SA producers scored more than 95/100, it’s one of the 24 most highly rated Cape Cabs assessed by top panels locally and internationally during the past year
Read moreNOT A SINGLE Chardonnay considered better than 94/100 in Winemag’s 2022 Prescient Report on the category in South Africa? In the collective opinion of editor Christian Eedes and his fellow judges on the panel, James Pietersen and Jolette Steyn of retailer Wine Cellar in Cape Town, there weren’t any ‘extraordinary’ or ‘profound’ examples among the 80 wines from the 59
Read moreOF THE 95 wines judged worthy of double gold medals at South Africa’s 2022 Veritas Awards, there are 19 standouts on the basis of various tasting results… 95 is a big number, and the organisers won’t publish the scores, which range from 93 to 100, i.e. they tell the respective wine producers who entered the wines, but they won’t tell
Read moreJUST DAYS after the 2022 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards panel chair Abigail Donnelly announced their choice of the top-rated tables in South Africa, fellow food writer Jenny Handley went public with her panel’s preferences in the 2023 JHP Gourmet Guide. The Eat Out awards will be presented on 20 November, but we’ve been told the names of 42 restaurants
Read moreALMOST 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
Read moreWHOA! Better than R60 a bottle for this award winner from Van Loveren in the Robertson winelands, R49pb is all that’s being asked for the 2021 Tangled Tree Butterscotch Chardonnay from the Ultra Value Wine Challenge organisers, BuyBetterWine.com. And Woah! The White Wine of the Year at the 2022 competition (for wines selling at under R130 per 750ml) is also
Read moreALTHOUGH the 2022 Ultra Value Wine Challenge was open to entries selling for up to R130 a bottle, the Wine of the Year awards for the highest-scoring red and white in the competition were presented for submissions way below the price ceiling. Best-value red: a blend (mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz) from the Koelenhof Winery in Stellenbosch, the Koelenberg 2021.
Read moreGIVEN THAT over half the number of entries in the 2022 FNB Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10 Competition were made in 2022, i.e. 86 out of 161 wines from 102 producers, it’s perhaps no surprise that this vintage dominated at the awards presentation: six in the Top 10, with 13 in the Top 20. This was despite what some have described
Read moreAS THE 2022 WINNER of the only competition in South Africa exclusively for Rosé wines, Groote Post is one of the country’s ‘pink’ wines of the year: • Aaldering Pinotage Rosé 2022 at R225pb ex-cellar, Devon Valley-Stellenbosch: trophy at the Michelangelo Awards (SA) • Allée Bleue Shiraz Rosé 2022 at R90pb ex-cellar, Franschhoek: top of its class at the Shiraz
Read moreIT’S A PITY that the Veritas Awards don’t do more to showcase the very best wines of South Africa. Apart from the glorious exception of the Vertex Award presented for the overall champion (the highest-scoring wine in the competition), the furthest the organisers go in presenting a guide to the greatest wines from the Cape winelands is awarding ‘double gold’
Read moreSOUTH AFRICA has a number of fine Chardonnay cellars, and that of Paul Clüver on De Rust Estate in Grabouw counts as one of the very best. Pioneers of the Elgin wine district in the Cape South Coast, the farmers, winemakers and business folk on the team also know their stuff when it comes to Pinot Noir, Riesling and Sauvignon
Read moreWE MIGHT never know whether the pink wine from Aaldering of Devon Valley in Stellenbosch was a contender for one of the 2022 Pinotage Rosé Awards. It might have been interesting to see whether the panel appointed by the Pinotage Association concurred with that at the Michelangelo Awards (SA) who a few weeks earlier had presented a trophy no less
Read moreAT THE 2022 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction, Kanonkop CWG Paul Sauer 2019 of Stellenbosch attracted the highest bids on average, i.e. selling for an average price of R2457 per bottle, with Cederberg Teen die Hoog Shiraz 2020 fetching R1861 a bottle on average. Remarkably, however, the white wines in most demand fetched the third- and fourth-highest prices overall, i.e. the
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