Tag Archive | "South African wine"
Beat the clock: Eben Sadie, a man on a mission
You only have to turn the clock back a dozen years to date the Sadie Family’s first wine, Columella 2000, yet Eben Sadie has the air of the wise old man of the Swartland. As well he might. In his quest to identify the best terroir and do it full justice, the man works double-time, [...]
Continue reading...My Top 5 Wines of the Year: South Africa
Posted Saturday 31st December 2011
They say that life’s too short to drink bad wine, less still to write about it too! With the exception of lesser vintages in vertical reports, I rate highly every wine which makes its way onto my website, so it’s no easy task to select my top wines of the year. Here’s my top five [...]
Continue reading...As pure as snow: Jordan’s white wines, including 3 divinely different vintages of Riesling from the Cape
Posted Monday 12th December 2011
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...The Swartland Revolution in the can
Posted Sunday 27th November 2011
So you’ve seen some pics and read my report of the Mullineux tasting here and here. Now here’s a video which might just persuade you to sign up for next year’s Swartland Revolution! There’s particularly lingering coverage of huge slabs of meat on the braai however, I can reassure fellow veggies that the salads were [...]
Continue reading...Shazam! Kaboom! Moving to Mulderbosch & joining forces with chef Peter Tempelhoff. All change for Cape winemaker Adam Mason
Posted Friday 25th November 2011
I heard this week that Adam Mason, winemaker at Klein Constantia in Constantia, will be assuming the position of winemaker at Mulderbosch, Stellenbosch with effect from next month. It’s been all change this year at both Klein Constantia (recently taken over by Zdenek Bakala and Charles Harman, wealthy Czech and English bankers) and Muldersbosch which, together with [...]
Continue reading...Mullineux magic – Swartland’s granite and schist dream team
Posted Wednesday 23rd November 2011
When I first visited the Swartland in 2004, Eben Sadie was just starting to make his mark with Columella, a Syrah/Mourvedre blend first made in 2000 and Palladius, a Chenin Blanc/Rhone blend. Returning earlier this month, things have changed and how. Once known as the Cape’s bread basket, Swartland has become its seed bed of [...]
Continue reading...V is for victory…and Vergelegen
Posted Friday 18th November 2011
I’ve tasted Vergelegen’s wines numerous times, both at home and in the Cape. Marvellously consistent and beautifully executed they’ve always been a beacon of clarity and quality. So it was great to put a place to the name and visit last week. As I expected, the Cabernet Sauvignon blends were absolutely first rate across a range of [...]
Continue reading...South Africa day 2: blue chips, new fodder & fine dining
Posted Thursday 10th November 2011
I visited among the Cape’s bluest chip producers today - Stellenbosch stalwarts Vergelegen (winery pictured above) and Jordan, then Steenberg in Constantia (uber-trendy cellar door/bistro pictured below). All enjoy relatively cool locations within their region which marks out their fresh and structured wines as food friendly. A trait which I had the opportunity to put to the test over lunch at Jordan [...]
Continue reading...November Wines of the Month: two top Autumnal Cape wines, each under a tenner
Posted Wednesday 2nd November 2011
They say that dogs reflect their owners. If my ebullient November Wines of the Month, both extreme good value, are anything to go by, I reckon the same is true of wine! Boekenhoutskloof The Wolftrap White 2010 At last, Marc Kent has succumbed to the virtues of Chenin Blanc, which comprises 19% of this [...]
Continue reading...Superb South African Syrah: Julien Schaal
Posted Wednesday 26th October 2011
In the third post reporting on my highlights of Wines of South Africa’s Cape Wine Europe trade tasting, I’m focusing on Julien Schaal whose winning way with Chardonnay came to my attention last year (click here for details). Alsace-born Schaal was at the tasting so it was great to meet him and discover more strings [...]
Continue reading...Standout Chenin Blanc: The Winery of Good Hope & Land of Hope, South Africa
Posted Monday 24th October 2011
I wrote up highlights from themed tables at Wines of South Africa’s Cape Wine Europe trade tasting here last week. At the Chenin Blanc table, The Winery of Good Hope’s Radford Dale Renaissance Chenin Blanc 2010 was my pick of the bunch. It’s not the only great Chenin The Winery of Good Hope (TWGH) make – I [...]
Continue reading...Is the west coast the best coast? Getting fired up with Swartland’s revolutionaries, next stop Olifants River?
Posted Friday 12th August 2011
I’ll be heading out to South Africa in November. Top of my list of things to do – indeed things that I’ll be doing – are the Swartland Revolution and International Chenin Blanc symposium. Chenin is a common thread. Old vine Chenin from the Paardeberg is the much sought after backbone of Swartland’s revolutionary white [...]
Continue reading...Wine detecting at New Scotland Yard: the Cape acquits itself rather well
Posted Friday 29th July 2011
I’d been looking forward to presenting last night’s tasting for the Comets, the Metropolitan police’s sports and social society. Focused on South Africa, if I say so myself, I’d selected a cracking line up which got a big thumbs up for its diversity, also for the common thread - freshness and texture, which greatly contributed to the balance and food friendliness of the [...]
Continue reading...The Top 100 SA Wines plus the Cape’s First Growth properties?
Posted Sunday 3rd April 2011
Last week, a new competition – “The Top 100 SA Wines” – was launched in South Africa. An international panel of judges was tasked with making the selection tasting the entries (apparently 400 wines) over a week. The results are expected later this month (see here). Meantime, South Africa’s Grape online magazine announced its own “Top 100,” this [...]
Continue reading...April Wines of the Month:Ghost Corner Semillon 2008 (Elim) & Steenberg Semillon 2010 (Constantia)
Posted Thursday 31st March 2011
I’ve written a good deal about Hunter Valley Semillon from Australia lately and with good reason! But a South African tasting last week reminded me that the Cape can produced very accomplished Semillons too. Quite different from the Hunter, the Cape’s cool climate regions produce wines which are closer in style to Margaret River or Bordeaux, perhaps [...]
Continue reading...Cederberg Bukettraube 2009 – the perfect salute to the hottest day of the year so far!
Posted Thursday 24th March 2011
When I’m in Portugal, I’m constantly surprised to discover yet another grape variety I’ve never heard of – speaking at last week’s 1.º Encontro e Prova Internacional de Vinho renowned Portuguese wine writer Joao Paulo Martins told us scientists reckon Portugal is without parallel when it comes to varietal diversity. The country lays claim to over [...]
Continue reading...Merlot: centre stage or sideways? Plus a benchmark example
Posted Wednesday 9th March 2011
Yesterday I discovered that “Merlot is the most popular red varietal, with 64% of UK regular wine drinkers opening a bottle”* (and presumably drinking it!) So it would seem things have moved on since The Sunday Times said of the film Sideways “Oscar winner knocks sales of merlot wine sideways.” Timely, because yesterday’s stand out [...]
Continue reading...A starry night: Albert Kennedy Trust South Africa tasting
Posted Tuesday 8th March 2011
This Thursday, for the fourth year in a row, I’m presenting the annual wine tasting and dinner for the Albert Kennedy Trust at the offices of SJ Berwin solicitors in the City. The Trust does sterling work supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans homeless young people and Wines of South Africa are very generously supporting the event this [...]
Continue reading...Calling Bath and Bristol – top tasting of Tokara & Thelema wines & it’s free!
Posted Saturday 5th March 2011
A heads up for dwellers of Bath, Bristol and thereabouts. On Tuesday 8th March Thys Lombard from Tokara and Thomas Webb from Thelema will show 14 wines at at Great Western Wine. These South African Stellenbosch-based estates are in their prime and the wines well worth getting to know. Stellenbosch is very much the Cape’s Cabernet Sauvignon capital so [...]
Continue reading...March Wines of the Month: Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2009 & Raats Cabernet Franc 2007
Posted Tuesday 1st March 2011
A dynamic duo from the Cape this month, the first of which is on deal at Majestic at the mo! Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2009 (Hemel-en-Aarde Valley) This consistently impressive South African Chardonnay was one of five Chardonnays from around the world which made the cut for the Sommelier Journal’s Top Releases of 2010. Its tightly structured [...]
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Posted Thursday 19th January 2012
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