Wines of The Week

South Africa seems to throb with wine snobs and critics who baulk at the prospect of sipping a wine which costs under R40.  Well, I have news for those winos, I just got to taste 8 wines under R40 and they were smashing.
Mike Bampfield Duggan from Wine Concepts was the very man to find these [...]

Pepper, lots of berries, chocolatey.
Yum!
R69 Cellar door.

Stop the presses! Something extraordinary happened this week in the normally fractious world of wine reviewing and commentary.  
Something so extraordinary, that it could be equated with news of Helen Zille agreeing with Julius Malema, the bank giving you a refund, or minicab drivers suddenly observing the rules of the road and being courteous.  
That extraordinary thing [...]

Roast Lemon and Garlic Chicken. Potatoes, roasted in goose fat, golden and crispy on the outside. Lightly steamed asparagus and some caramelised onions with roast parsnip.
Food sorted, now what to drink? Nothing too heavy please. No tannic Cabernet Sauvignons or Pinotages bursting out of the bottle. Let’s play safe and go for a light, soft, unintimidating wine.
A [...]

Solms-Delta have launched a fortified wine that could be a port, but it’s not.

It’s not a Port because wine maker Hilko Hegewisch made it from Shiraz grapes, and not the usual Portuguese variety. He also fortified it with grappa made from the very same bunches the wine was pressed from, and not with brandy. And [...]

Look, I’m going to tell you the real reason I bought these two bottles of wine. 

I liked the labels. Yes, clean, simple, elegant labels. 
There, I’ve said it. 
I’m not the first person to buy a wine based on the look of the label, and I won’t be the last. 
The good news is that both of these [...]

I headed to Wellington for a weekend away recently.
My trip took me up a twisting valley to an estate at the foot of the Bainskloof Pass. I was staying in the rather posh Grand Dedale country house.
The house was lovely and comfortable and I took full advantage of the surrounding autumn countryside and went for a long [...]

 
On my way to the Karoo last month I passed through the Tradouw Valley in the Klein Karoo, near Barrydale. On impulse I called to Joubert-Tradouw wine farm,  as I needed a break and some lunch. 
After parking I noticed that there was great activity around the back of the cellars and it transpired that they were harvesting [...]

When is a disease ever a good thing?  Well let me tell you a story.
Imagine this.
You are a wine farmer. The crop of grapes has been nurtured and cared for throughout the growing season. Millions of Rands worth of product hang on vines in the open air.

Then you get a phone call from the winemaker.
You are [...]

This week I am not bringing you a wide selection of wines, as I usually do.
No, I am bringing you just one. It’s called Hedonist. It’s well named.
A hedonist is someone who is motivated by desire for sensual pleasures in life.
In my book, Hedonist wine is a posh wine. It’s not for everyday drinking and [...]

This week I looked for something different to do and asked David Wibberly of The Bordeauxroom to come up with a theme for us. 
This is what David does – he organises personalised tastings with the winemaker present. He’ll do it in your house, your office, or at a team building event. In fact, David will go [...]

Now I have a problem with baboons.
I used to be sympathetic to their cause, but now they are messing with me. They are plundering the Pinot Noir crop wholesale.
This is my favourite wine, and I won’t stand for it.
But seriously, it appears that the poor animals are resorting to foraging in the ripening vines as their [...]

This week we tasted a selection of Merlots on sale in Woolworths. Why Merlots? and why Woolworths?
Well, it’s Autumn, and time to start thinking of full bodied reds to see us through the chilly Winter evenings. We’ll check out Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and blends in the coming weeks too.
Why Woolworths? The answer is that the [...]

 
This week we looked at and tasted Chenin Blancs, one of the most underrated varietals in South Africa. Great value for money, R30 or so, gets you a bottle of unctuous tropical fruit tasting wine laced with various citrus and mineral fruits. It can accompany most food, and equally be enjoyed as a sipping wine on a hot [...]