Just written up a visit to Anthonij Rupert, a South African producer with one of the most remarkable wineries you’ll ever see. For their top reds, they use a system…
One of South Africa’s top Sauvignons
South Africa is doing some great things with Sauvignon Blanc these days. Here’s a superb example from De Grendel, in the Durbanville region, near Cape Town. De Grendel Koetshuis Sauvignon Blanc…
Some Chenin!
I’m trying hard to get my head around Chenin Blanc, but it’s a difficult grape to understand. What does Chenin taste like? Very hard to answer. Here are three good…
Photos of fynbos
On my recent trip to South Africa I was really taken by the fynbos, the native vegetation of the Western Cape. From a distance it looks like Mediterranean scrubland, but…
Iona Sauvignon: one of South Africa’s best
One of the many highlights of my recent South African trip was a visit to the cool-climate region of Elgin, where we were hosted by Andrew and Rozy Gunn at…
Sijnn: a really interesting South African red
Now this took me by surprise. It was a sample that appeared one day, and I had no idea of where it was from or what it was, or how…
An illustrated report from today’s big South African tasting
Spent an enjoyable few hours at today’s South African tasting, held in the rather dimly lit great hall at Vinopolis. The time passed quickly. There’s lot of interesting things going…
Visiting Elim, a distinctly cool South African region
The last leg of my South African adventure saw me heading south, to the southernmost tip of Africa itself. The Elim wine region is just 20 km from Agulhas, and…
Day 3, South Africa – the Elgin marvels
My first visit to Elgin! One of the goals of this trip is to visit regions that previously I’d missed – Elgin, Elim, Hemel-en-Aarde. So it was off to Iona…