Why I love Pinot Noir
by Anthony Hamilton Russell
I have two big loves. Pinot Noir the variety, and that is an unconditional love. And Pinot Noir the wine, which is a conditional love. As a variety, Pinot Noir...
Country: South Africa
Why I love Chenin Blanc
by Ken Forrester
Chenin Blanc truly is the Cinderella of the wine industry, a shy grape, with no immediately outstanding features. If you’ve ever seen a bunch on the vine – a medium...
Rosa Kruger: the queen of the Cape’s old vines
by Tim Atkin
The air inside Rosa Kruger’s 4×4 is turning blue with expletives. Somehow the swear words sound even more forceful in Afrikaans, spat at the windscreen in disgust. This is road...
Misunderstood Wines
by Chris Wilson
There are certain rights-of-passage conversations that take place as we make our journeys in life. Which football team do you support? Where did you grow up? What was your first...
Why consumers like Chenin Blanc more than Riesling
by Tim Atkin
Where was the Riesling? Johann de Wet shrugged sheepishly and said he’d brought five Robertson Chardonnays to taste instead. “We only make 6,000 bottles of Riesling these days,” he admitted....
The 2019 Lismore Tasting
by Tim Atkin
This was the fifth Lismore tasting, designed to pit the best wines of South Africa blind against their peers from the rest of the world. In all, we tasted 35...
Cape Redux
by Robert Joseph
“It is highly unlikely that functioning farming enterprises will be confiscated… Farm invasions are extremely rare in South Africa. I do not recall one in the last couple of years.”...
The Lismore Sauvignon Blanc Tasting
by Tim Atkin
The fourth annual Lismore tasting, pitching South Africa against the rest of the world, focused on wooded Sauvignon Blanc and white Bordeaux blends. In previous editions we have looked at...
South African wine’s Day Zero
by Tim Atkin
Day Zero sounds like the title of a dystopian disaster movie, starring Matt Damon or an ageing Bruce Willis perhaps. But what’s happening in South Africa right now has nothing...
NV Graham Beck, Brut, Western Cape
( £13.99, 12%, Majestic )Bready, tangy and well balanced, this great value bubbly from the Cape’s leading fizz producer would give a lot of basic Champagnes a run for their euros. Leesy, complex and frehsh with the Chardonnay providing acidic backbone and structure.
Heritage: boon or burden?
by Tim Atkin
Good morning, goeie more, everyone, and thank you for giving up part of your Saturday to be here at Nederburg. I’d also like to thank Distell, the Auction and its...
2015 Diemersdal Estate Grüner Veltliner, Durbanville
( £11.99, 14%, Majestic )One of those wines that you’re just dying to slip into a blind tasting, this comes from cool (for the Cape) Durbanville and wouldn’t be outclassed by many Austrian Grüners at the same price level. Spices, green apple and bay leaf notes are underpinned by zesty, crunchy acidity and plenty of mid-palate texture. Promising stuff.