What I Drank Last Night

Last Friday, a visit to Franschhoek cellar La Motte. Total production is some 70 000 cases, half of which is standard-label Sauvignon Blanc. A multi-regional blend if ever there was one, the 2011 consists of fruit from Franschhoek (30%), Elgin (15%), Walker Bay (10%), Nieuwoudtville (10%), Darling and West Coast (10%), Durbanville (10%), Stellenbosch (10%) [...]

With judging for the FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 competition due to take place this week, I felt compelled to do a bit of benchmarking and hence a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc 2009 from Elim producer The Berrio, this wine having rated 5 Stars in Platter’s 2011. Still amazingly primary but very much at the [...]

The fifth annual Top 10 Sauvignon Blanc competition will be held under the auspices of the producer organisation known as the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group now that originator Wine magazine is no longer.  Sponsorship is provided by First National Bank. Judging takes place on 27, 28 and 29 September with me chairing the panel and [...]

Is local Sauvignon Blanc too “green”? Not if you’re Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who munched down on some of the grass on Wimbledon centre court yesterday after beating Spain’s Rafael Nadal in the men’s single final.

Three more or less entry-level examples of 2011 Sauvignon Blanc tasted sighted and scored according to the 20-point system: Boschkloof 2011 Price: R54 Wine of Origin Western Cape – 12.42% abv Grassy notes on the nose. The palate shows clean, pure fruit and bright acidity. Not hugely complex but balanced and refreshing. 15/20 Kloovenburg 2011 [...]

Yesterday at the Gugulethu Wine Festival a chance to sample the own-label Olive Brook range of headline sponsor TOPS at SPAR, wines I’m not overly familiar with as these are not submitted for review by either Platter’s or Wine magazine although they have done well at Veritas over the years. The general standard was high [...]

Darling property Groote Poste enjoys a cool-climate location not far from the Atlantic Ocean and hence tends to make such excellent Sauvignon Blanc but does this also explain why the Shiraz 2008 was so ordinary? The wine showed stalky, green flavours in addition to sour plum and had a somewhat briny after-taste. According to technical [...]

A tasting of nine examples of Sauvignon Blanc  from the 2010 vintage, none of which were included in the last Wine magazine Top 10 competition. I reviewed the wines with James Pietersen, regular taster for Platter’s and beverage manager for Belthatzar and Balducci’s restaurants at the V&A Waterfront, Cape Town. Using Riedel Restaurant Series stemware, [...]

A cracking wine showing a range of aromas and flavours from grassy-green through to ripe granadilla with bright but not harsh acidity. Pure fruited and not as “nervy” as I suspect it was on release. It rated 5 Stars in Platter’s 2010, where it got this rather fanciful description: “Minerality is the seam binding in [...]

“There’s no need to liven up a Tchaikovsky piano concerto. It’s lively enough already,” observed my wife as we listened to a particularly energetic arrangement of the Russian composer’s work during RMB Starlight Classics at Vergelegen this past Saturday evening. “It’s a bit like coffee Pinotage. Why bury all that wonderful fruit under oak?” I [...]