Tag Archive | "South Africa Links"
As pure as snow: Jordan’s white wines, including 3 divinely different vintages of Riesling from the Cape
I’ve visit High Timber, the Thameside restaurant which Gary and Kathy Jordan co-own with Neleen Strauss several times. So it seemed high time that I visited the couple’s Stellenbosch estate on last month’s visit to South Africa (view from their new Cape restaurant pictured). Located at the head of the narrow, winding Stellenboschkloof Valley, green and lush with [...]
Continue reading...Boekenhoutskloof Syrah vertical & B’kloof’s new Shiraz
Posted Friday 11th June 2010
Boekenhoutskloof Syrah’s maiden vintage in 1997 forged the reputations of both estate and winemaker, Marc Kent (pictured). It was Kent’s first job out of wine school and his hands off approach captivated an audience hungry for wines not focused around fruit or oak. It’s fair to say it also put South African Syrah on the map. Kent [...]
Continue reading...Easy Tyger: £4 off De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2009!
Posted Thursday 3rd June 2010
I’ve converted my squash partner from Kiwi to Cape Sauvignon. Wonder if it’ll go down great guns with footie types too? At any rate, from 21 June to 4th July, De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from Tygerberg features in Oddbins’ Football World Cup promotion. Down from £9.99 to a rip-roaring £5.99, that’s a lot of [...]
Continue reading...Cape Chenin – great value
Posted Friday 28th May 2010
The London Wine Fair provided a chance to catch up with South African Chenin Blanc. Based on my 2004 Chenin research project, lower yielding old vine fruit is key to fine Chenin. It has better concentration, depth of flavour and balance. Cooler sites also help with balance and length. While oaked styles were really making [...]
Continue reading...Fairview The Back Road Carignan 2008, Swartland
Posted Thursday 27th May 2010
Back in my Diploma study days, the appropriately named Oxford Companion to Wine was always at hand – somewhat arm breakingly I might add. It’s a hefty tome, these days available online, accounting for the lesser biceps of today’s students. And one of my favourite quotes from Mrs Robinson concerns Carignan, whose wine Jancis describes [...]
Continue reading...World Cup fever: wine, Brazil & Berry Bros & Rudd
Posted Wednesday 26th May 2010
I’m no footie fan but it’s impossible to avoid World Cup fever, even at work! As I tasted my way through Wines of South Africa’s Chenin Blanc table (notes to come) at London Wine Fair, it was hard not to be distracted by the football bouncing around the Winelands projected on the screen beyond. Stepping [...]
Continue reading...A pair of Secateurs
Posted Monday 1st March 2010
Ex-Rustenberg man Adi Badenhorst’s Paardeberg Rhone blends, white and red, were one of my finds of the 2008 Cape Fair (see here). A A Badenhorst Family Red 2006 received plenty of plaudits when I showed it at my “Cape Rhone blends with a twist tasting” last summer (reported here). The only grievance? That it wasn’t [...]
Continue reading...South African wine sales overtake France
Posted Monday 22nd February 2010
Watching the BAFTAs last night, I’d quite forgotten about District 9 – a gripping, sometimes visceral, South African sci-fi film shot documentary style about aliens stranded in Johannesburg. For some, South Africa overtaking France in wine sales might be as likely as an alien invasion, but it’s true! Here’s an extract from a press release [...]
Continue reading...Kleine Zalze Bush Vine Chenin, success & scandal…
Posted Wednesday 10th February 2010
Success, followed by scandal, all very red top. Last month I received an email from Stellenbosch winery, Kleine Zalze, notifying me that they’d taken top honours in South Africa’s WINE magazine’s 2010 Guala Closures Chenin Blanc Challenge: Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection 2008 won the award for Best Overall Chenin Blanc. Kleine Zalze Cellar Selection Bush [...]
Continue reading...My pick of Majestic’s Spring South African deals – 25% off
Posted Monday 8th February 2010
As promised, here are my hot tips on Majestic’s South African wines – 25% off when you buy any 2 bottles under their Spring deal (valid until 26 April). (Picture credit: Hendrik Holler) Vergelegen are at the vanguard for Bordeaux varieties. The straight Cabernet Sauvignon is always a great buy so you get a lot [...]
Continue reading...Cape crusades with Schalk Burger, Jean Daneel & Luddite’s Niels Verburg
Posted Thursday 26th November 2009
Not a photo you’d usually associate with me or wine, but bear with me! I’d timed my Western Australia trip so I got back for the annual South Africa “mega-tasting” in London but things didn’t go according to plan. I picked up a flu bug and, with a palate as dead as a dodo, no [...]
Continue reading...Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2007 & Rustenberg John X Merriman 2006
Posted Friday 18th September 2009
Cullen Kevin John Chardonnay 2007, Margaret River, Western Australia – I must declare an interest, albeit minor…my biceps played some part in the batonnage when I did 2 weeks cellar ratting at Cullen in 2007. I well remember the floral and grapefruit perfume of the Chardy room and the meditative tonic of lees-stirring in between [...]
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Posted Monday 12th December 2011
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