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Back In Black: Kanonkop Black Label Pinotage 2006-2019
South Africa featured, Verticals & Retrospectives, featured, South Africa
, Aug 2022
A vertical of South African Pinotage might sound like torture to some. When the wine is the Cape’s greatest Pinotage, then you understand why the room was packed for the first ever complete tasting of Kanonkop’s Black Label and why its owners and winemaker flew over for the occasion.
Cellar Favorite: Klein Constantia Vin de Constance 1991-2019
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, South Africa
, Jul 2022
Winemaker Matt Day, together with co-proprietor Hans Astrom, flew from South Africa recently to present a rare vertical tasting of their Vin de Constance that included the forthcoming 2019 vintage.
Cellar Favorite: 2018 Taaibosch Crescendo
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, South Africa
, May 2022
Whilst up to my neck in Bordeaux primeur samples, one sunny evening during a brief return home for Easter, I took a break from Cabernet and cracked open a South African wine that had been sent to my home, the 2018 Taaibosch Crescendo.
Cellar Favorite: Hamilton Russell Vineyards Pinot Noir 1981-2021
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, South Africa
, Mar 2022
Proprietors Anthony and Olive Hamilton Russell recently tutored a special tasting of Hamilton Russell Vineyards’ flagship Pinot Noir to mark 40-years of vintages.
South Africa: 2021 New Releases from the Cape
featured, South Africa
, Nov 2021
The Cape continues to provide wine-lovers with a bevy of high quality wines that, without wishing to sound like a broken record, represent astonishing value-for-money. If you have not woken up to the quality in South Africa, then now is the time.
Cellar Favorite: 2008 Mvemve Raats MR de Compostella
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, South Africa
, May 2021
On my bucket list of wine-related things to do, apart from tasting the 1947 Romanée-Conti and climbing K2 with Lalou Bize-Leroy in order to overcome my debilitating vertigo, is to conduct an unabridged vertical of Mvemve Raats MR de Compostella.
Finding Cool Sunshine: South Africa
featured, South Africa
, Apr 2021
Postponed several times due to matters beyond my control, thankfully the intermittently showstopping wines of South Africa were worth the wait, proving that the pandemic has not slowed down the momentum of the Cape.
Cellar Favorite: 2019 Minimalist Wines Stars In The Dark
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, South Africa
, Mar 2021
“It smells and tastes of the sea,” my wife remarks after handing her a glass of wine, completely blind. She had no clue that the Syrah vines that contributed fruit to the 2019 Stars In The Dark are rooted on the wild and windswept Agulhas coast at the very southern tip of the African continent. That’s translating terroir straight into a glass of wine in all its unfettered glory.
South Africa – A Delayed Primer
featured, South Africa
, Feb 2021
It was early March 2020, and I was meeting dear friends for our annual lunch at Limewood in the New Forest, where we put the world to rights and gossip like there’s no tomorrow. And in a sense, there was no tomorrow. This turned out to be the last time any of us enjoyed a day trip, mingling with others without fear of falling ill. But the normal world was slipping away, as evidenced by the manner in which the receptionist kept her distance, the novelty of widely spaced tables and, on the train journey home, news that my daughter’s exchange trip to Germany was canceled. I remember the wine that day, a delicious bottle of 2017 Chardonnay from Ataraxia, prompting thoughts of visiting the Cape in the late summer, when surely the pandemic would be in the rearview mirror.
Cellar Favorite: 2019 Paulus Wine Co. Chenin Blanc Bosberaad
Cellar Favorites, cellar favorite, South Africa
, Dec 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed Joaquin Hildago’s recent article on collectible Argentinean wines, and it got me thinking about parallels with South Africa’s own collectibles. It’s not just Bordeaux and Burgundy.