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
Read moreCHOICES 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 moreBRING IT ON! October 2022 is brimming with top South African wine events, at least one of which is free… All you have to do to attend ‘That South Coast Show’ put on by the ‘new wave’ winemakers of The Cape South Coast on 4 October is to accept their invitation – just click on the RSVP button and
Read moreAT THE time of writing, word on the grapevine was that arrangements were at an advanced stage in preparation for a public tasting of wines that excelled at the prestigious 2022 Trophy Wine Show. Not long to wait, apparently. In the meantime, the month of August already offers plenty of opportunities for wine lovers to venture out and about –
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 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 moreSA WINE lovers are spoilt for choice in June 2019 – so many shows, fairs and festivals to choose from, all around the country. Juliet Cullinan, FynArts, Wacky Wine Weekend, Trophy Wine Show – and the first auction of fine rarities to be hosted by Wine Cellar, Strauss & Co and Sommelier Higgo Jacobs. 4 & 5 JUNE
Read moreON THE evenings of Wednesday 6 March and Thursday 14 March, there will be walk-around tastings at Caroline’s Fine Wine Cellars in Cape Town showing 25 of the 5 Star laureates in the 2019 edition of Platter’s SA Wine Guide. For the list, see here. At the tutored tastings on the evenings of Thursday 14 March and Wednesday 20 March,
Read moreDARN! It was sad to hear that the Wine & Bubbly Festival scheduled to take place on the beach at Plettenberg Bay in March had been cancelled due to ‘late withdrawal of the sponsorship’ – though good to read that Plett Tourism and Plett Winelands ‘will return with another world-class experience in 2020′. Instead then, the main focus of attention in
Read moreYOU MIGHT well wonder why Rustenberg Peter Barlow was excluded from the line-up for Winemag.co.za’s 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon report, i.e. given the wine’s great track record over the past 10 years, given that it was scored 5 Stars in the 2014 edition of the report and then chosen as the international judges’ overall favourite at this year’s Trophy Wine Show. You might also wonder
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