Had this last night. Lovely wine. Sauternes/Barsac is one of the great sweet wines of the world and it is currently undervalued. While red Bordeaux has steadily got more expensive,…
Jay Rayner on the aesthetics of wine
The dangers of commenting outside your sphere of expertise were illustrated last week in a couple of tweets from food expert and restaurant critic Jay Rayner. Ok, my personal taste…
Saturday morning in Stellenbosch, in pictures
Had a lovely Saturday in Stellenbosch. Such a pretty town. At the heart of South Africa’s winelands, it’s an easy place to hang. These are some street pics.
All you need to know about Bordeaux 2016
So this week it’s Bordeaux primeurs. Unfortunately, for the 15th vintage in a row, I’m unable to attend. But I am a generous soul and I will tell you all…
Incredible sweet wines, from Mullineux and Klein Constantia, including the 1875
In the space of one day I had the chance to try some mind blowing sweet wines, new and old. The first experience was at Klein Constantia. Back in the…
Leeu Passant: exciting new wines from Chris and Andrea Mullineux
One of the most anticipated South African releases of recent years: the Leeu Passant wines from Chris and Andrea Mullineux. After a sneaky preview with Chris at ProWein last week,…
Exploring Hemel-en-Aarde
Spent a few days in Hemel-en-Aarde, looking around. This is a cool-ish climate wine region in a valley that meets the coast right by the lovely town of Hermanus, about…
A great wine shop in Hermanus, and why we need to support good wine shops
I love shopping for wine. If you are a wine journalist and you don’t love shopping for wine, then find a new job. I don’t want to read what you…
Flotsam & Jetsam Cinsault, tasted on camera
Another Cinsault! This time, it’s from Chris and Suzaan Alheit. This is an honest wine, made for drinking, and it’s lovely. South Africa is producing quite a few of these…