2010 CWG auction wines rated
An assessment of the wines to be sold at this year’s Cape Winemakers Guild auction was recently completed, the first time ever that local commentators have had the opportunity to do this in a blind...
View ArticleAllée Bleue Chenin Blanc 2010
Van Zyl Du Toit, who joined Allée Bleue as winemaker in July 2009 after almost twelve years at Simonsig is a fund of pop-cultural aphorisms. “Plan the dive. Dive the plan,” he says, quoting former boss...
View ArticleHaskell Pillars 2008
Haskell Vineyards is the Helderberg property acquired by international property and mining magnate Preston Haskell in 2002. Rianie Strydom, previously of Morgenhof, acted as consultant winemaker from...
View ArticleSpice Route Malabar 2002
Visit the website for Swartland winery Spice Route, and records for flagship red blend Malabar only go back as far as 2003. In fact, 2002 was the maiden vintage and if you want to know anything about...
View Article2011 Ultra Liquors Best Value Wine Guide: CE’s top wines
The 2011 Ultra Liquors Best Value Wine Guide compiled by Wine magazine features wines selling at a maximum of R60 a bottle. There were 969 wines submitted for potential inclusion in the guide, of...
View ArticleAtaraxia Chardonnay 2007
When the recent Big 5 Tasting which saw five local wine producers go head to head with top French doppelgängers took place, there was no Chardonnay module. The question was put to organiser Jörg...
View ArticleIs SA Chenin Blanc really that good?
I’m still waiting for my April issue of Decanter to arrive in the letter box, but a recent posting on A Word from the Herd, the Fairview Wine blog alerted me to a tasting report in the UK magazine that...
View ArticleFlagstone Word of Mouth Viognier 2008
A tasting of ten examples of Viognier, the line-up including wines that have come to the fore in one context or another as among the best in category. I reviewed the wines with James Pietersen, regular...
View Article2012 Ultra Liquors Best Value Wine Guide: CE’s top wines
The 2012 edition of the Best Value Wine Guide sponsored by Ultra Liquors is now available. In order to be included in the book, wines must firstly sell for not more than R60 a bottle and then had to...
View ArticleChristian Eedes Chardonnay Report 2012: Top 10 Wines
The second annual Christian Eedes Chardonnay Report presented in conjunction with Sanlam Private Investments is now out. This involved putting together a line-up of 60 high-profile wines, either...
View ArticleNedbank Green Wine Awards 2013
Do punters give a damn about “green” issues? They should… Year five of the Nedbank Green Wine Awards, which I helped conceptualise back in 2009 as editor of Wine magazine along with my wife Jane,...
View ArticleRaats Family Wines wins Sylvain barrel
Best wine overall at the inaugural RisCura Red Hot Wine was the MR de Compostella and the prize for producing this a new top-of-range 225-litre Grande Reserve Château Tradition barrel from Tonnellerie...
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