THREE of South Africa’s finest wines of the year, 97-pointers at the 2024 Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK and with exceptional credentials established over many years involving numerous vintages – two from Stellenbosch, one from Elgin: Delaire Graff’s Banghoek Chardonnay, also best in class and the top-scoring white wine overall at The Trophy Wine Show (SA); Tokara’s Reserve
Read moreWHAT WERE the odds! Okay, so the 2019 wasn’t quite the maiden vintage of Beyerskloof’s Eerste Ry Cab – the 2018 and 2019 were released together. Nevertheless, like a front row forward earning his Springbok blazer, the achievement of being the most highly rated Cabernet Sauvignon in the 2024 edition of Platter’s South African Wine Guide ahead of Cabs that
Read moreWHEN IT COMES TO South African Cab, there’s no question as to which part of the country’s winelands dominates the category. Not that Stellenbosch has it all their own way… See below for what has been most highly rated by the panels of experts internationally during 2023 to date. Highlighted in red are those Cabernets that qualified for the SA
Read moreBOTTLES 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
Read moreFROM JANUARY to August 2023, the top panels of wine experts judged some 700 of South Africa’s finest to be at least high silver or gold medal standard. Of these, around 140 were considered 96 points or higher, Best in Class, Top 10 or 12, worthy of grand gold, platinum or master awards, trophy laureates, competition winners or Wines of
Read moreTHEY 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
Read moreDESCRIBED AT the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK as “graceful and accomplished”, the Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 was the most highly rated red from South Africa and, from over 18 000 entries internationally, one of 50 wines celebrated as ‘Best in Show’. What the panel of judges experienced was: “Dark, black-red in the glass, with
Read moreTHE R43 244 fetched for a single bottle of the 1966 GS Cabernet at the Strauss & Co auction in Johannesburg on 15 May 2022 was the second-highest price ever paid for this wine – the highest being R91 040, fetched in a sale conducted by the same auction house in September 2021. The occasion this time round was the
Read more2022 HAD ALREADY got underway when Decanter (UK) announced the names of their Wines of the Year 2021. Experts around the world and on the Decanter team nominated those wines that had impressed them most during the year to October 2021, and these were then re-assessed by a panel comprising three of the publication’s judges: Master of Wine Michelle Cherutti-Kowal,
Read moreTHE WORDS ‘Private Bin’ on a bottle of Nederburg no longer mean that the wine was sold exclusively on auction. However, they do still indicate that the winemakers have made a special effort, gone the extra mile – and they now also appear on the Two Centuries Cabernet Sauvignon, beginning with the 2017 vintage. That said, the range of
Read moreTHE LE RICHE cellar has always been there or thereabouts when considering South Africa’s leading producers of Cabernet Sauvignon over the past decade or so! However, the last three years have been particularly successful for the family, with rave reviews from critics locally and internationally, culminating in victory at the Global Fine Wine Challenge in Sydney where the 2018 vintage
Read more70 YEARS AGO, who would have imagined what Roodeberg was to become… Dr Charles Niehaus was appointed as KWV’s chief wine scientist in 1941, during World War II, and he remained a central figure at South Africa’s leading co-operative winery until his retirement in 1971. To think that the KWV’s dry red wine portfolio back in the day comprised just
Read moreAWKWARD! Who was more embarrassed: the good folk at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, the South African National Wine Show Association who organise the Veritas Awards, or the sponsors of the competition? Whereas De Grendel Wine Estate in Panorama/Durbanville would be forgiven if they felt robbed! The 2021 prize-giving took place in early November and the Duimpie Bayly Veritas Vertex
Read moreTHE STORY of Vilafonté has much to do with the brand, the positioning and marketing thereof. Front and centre though is a commitment to quality and a style that can “stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the great wines of the world”. This is one of South Africa’s leading luxury wines, but not the smoke and mirrors variety. Here the degree of confidence
Read moreTHE International Wine & Spirit Competition organisers in the UK are holding back on announcing their 2021 trophy winners, but in the meantime they’ve disclosed the names of gold medallists including 26 South African wines (see below for those scored 96 or 95 out of 100) while teasing the audience with some feedback from the judges. The top-scoring SA wines
Read moreTHESE ARE the South African wines most highly rated in 2020, contenders for the title of SA Wine of the Year! Or should that be Winery of the Year, or Winemaker of the Year? Clearly some reviews count more than others. On the other hand, it says a lot when a wine wows more than one panel of experts
Read moreGOLD MEDAL and a score of 96 at the Decanter World Wine Awards (UK), Best in Class at the Trophy Wine Show (SA), Grand Gold Medal at Concours Mondial de Bruxelles (BE). Amazing accolades for the 2017 vintage of Cederberg Five Generations Cabernet Sauvignon in 2020 – or rather, as to be expected! And no doubt there will be
Read moreTHE ANNOUNCEMENT of the top award winners at the 2020 International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) was not without a surprise or two… No doubt the 2015 vintage of Bartinney Skyfall Cabernet Sauvignon and Quoin Rock’s Bordeaux-style ‘Red Blend’ – both of Stellenbosch – are worthy of their places among the competition’s 30 Wines of the Year, but apparently the
Read moreEDGEBASTON is the name of his wine farm on the slopes of the Simonsberg, but Finlayson is the name that most people in the know associate with top winemakers in the Cape winelands. Of course, he’s not the only one: his father Walter was once cellarmaster at Blaauwklippen and then Glen Carlou; his uncle Peter and cousin Peter-Allan are synonymous
Read moreTHYS LOUW has positioned The Journal Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Sauvignon Blanc as the top tier from the family’s farm in the northern reaches of Durbanville. The proprietor of Diemersdal Estate, Thys is the sixth generation of Louws to make wine on the property since they acquired it in 1885 and he’s made it his mission to record in The
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