What I Drank Last Night

Yesterday a chance to test-drive some of the top-end models from German car manufacturer Audi from the Cape Town dealership to Bouchard Finlayson near Hermanus. First the three-litre diesel A6 starting at R520 000. A front-wheel drive sedan, very well behaved. Next, the Q7 3-litre diesel starting from R679 000. Supposedly an off-roader but more [...]

To start the evening two examples of Chenin Blanc, De Trafford 2008 side by side with Post House 2008. I’d hoped that the wines would be rich and substantial and capable of providing some succour against the chill of winter which seems to have arrived all too early in the Cape but instead we found [...]

As featured in the February issue of Business Day WANTED: For a long time, there was hardly anyone to touch Bouchard Finlayson and Hamilton Russell Vineyards situated in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley near Hermanus when it came to South Africa’s best Pinot Noir. All of a sudden, however, there’s a whole bunch of new contenders coming [...]

Extraordinary synchronicity that Stellenbosch property Meerlust should celebrate 30 plus one years of its Bordeaux-style red blend Rubicon on Friday (see here) and that Hamilton Russell Vineyards in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley should do the same for precisely 30 vintages of its Pinot Noir on Saturday. Plenty has been written about what might define a wine [...]

Today saw a comparative tasting of Aussie vs. South African Chardonnay, 13 top examples from each country at Haskell Vineyards in Stellenbosch. Out of the 26 wines tasted, South Africa took first place, with a further seven in the top 10 – a deeply pleasing result that shows local wines can hold their own in [...]

Conundrum out of Rutherford, California is a multi-varietal white blend, the components of which the producer attempts to keep secret but are said to include Chardonnay, Muscat, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Viognier. Some years ago my late dad and I bought a bottle back from the US to show to interested parties and I have [...]

Though SAWIS reports that plantings of Pinot Noir in South Africa increased by 16% to reach 844ha from 2008 to 2009, this still amounts to only 0.8% of the national vineyard. With most of it used in the production of Méthode Cap Classique, the amount of attention that still wines made from the variety attract [...]

Stellenbosch property Saxenburg today released the 2005 vintage of its deluxe Shiraz Select, the wine selling for R650 a bottle from the farm. That might sound pricy but it’s already got big endorsement by way of a 5-Star rating in the current edition of Platter’s while production was capped at 250 cases meaning it’s not [...]