What I Drank Last Night

Haskell II 2009 is the new red in the range from the Stellenbosch property where Rianie Strydom is winemaker and at R160 a bottle is aimed at the punter who wants to have the Haskell experience but might find Aeon Syrah 2008 at R290, Pillars Syrah 2008 at R400 and Bordeaux blend IV 2007also at [...]

As featured in the last issue of Longevity: With women now buying around 80 per cent of wine in developed countries, it’s curious that both winemaking and appreciation are still largely the preserve of men.  Why should this be so? Regarding winemaking specifically, an obvious observation to make is that historically work in the vineyard [...]

As featured in the August issue of Business Day WANTED: Is Aeon Syrah from Stellenbosch property Haskell Vineyards doomed always to be discounted both in terms of price and reputation against Pillars Syrah from the same property? Both wines have immediately instated themselves as among the best examples of the variety in South Africa but [...]

It’s not often that Merlot is the stand-out wine in a South African producers range but that’s certainly the case when it comes to the latest releases from Dombeya, the second label from Stellenbosch producer Haskell Vineyards. The wine spent 16 months in barrel, 30% new. An alcohol by volume of 14.9% and a residual [...]

In what must surely be unprecedented in the 31-year history of Platter’s, husband and wife Louis and Rianie Strydom were each responsible for wines earning Five Stars in the 2011 edition, he for Ernie Els Signature2007 and she for Haskell 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 January 2005 but was soon employed fulltime and has enjoyed what can only be described as phenomenal success in the period to date. Dombeya was the previous name [...]

With the 2010 WINE magazine Shiraz Challenge set to take place next week, panel member James Pietersen and I decided to do a calibration exercise. We also invited Rianie Strydom, winemaker responsible for the Dombeya and Haskell labels, who agreed to include some of her pretty smart Shiraz that she has made recently. We tasted [...]