One of the world’s iconic pieces of kitsch is coming to Cape wine country.
South African winemakers have a wonderful love affair with the concept of blending, especially this Bordeaux blend.
Cape wine continues to develop in exciting ways. A recent visit to the Hemel-en-Aarde area proved that fact to me once more.
You like shiraz? You got it — in volume. Some call it syrah and much under both names is good, some very good indeed.
Hollywood star couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can hardly be accused of cashing in on their celebrity to sell the wine from their France estate.
One of Tuscany’s finest red wines is now a lot harder to find after vandals broke into the producer’s cellar and emptied 80 000 litres on the floor.
The latest guide to South African wines might have some flaws, but it sets an international standard.
Shiraz-based blends that are not too complicated but fresh and delicious are my own "house red".
What is it about bubbles that prompt so many people to forget that the wine containing them is often either acidic or insipid?
The first of this year’s wine competitions announced its results last week and there have been the usual responses from the wine-chattering class.
The past is a foreign country peopled with incomprehensible beings. Or, in this case, it is different winelands from those we know and perhaps love.
South Africa’s winemaking industry is evolving and only eight producers who were top of the pops in 2001 still cling to eminence.
Finding good value is not always straightforward.
On the bottom rung of the wine ladder and worrying about it? Drinking Four Cousin and sure there must be more to alcoholic sophistication than this?
Sometimes ambitious wineÂmakers seem to use a sad bit of illogic, assuming that if a little of something is good, a lot must be better.
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/ 17 February 2012
Riesling: If you have never riesled, it is time to start.
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/ 20 January 2012
Cinderella and workhorse were favourite clichés to describe the role of chenin blanc in the local wine industry of olden days.
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/ 2 December 2011
Bellingham Johannisberger, that long-surviving triumph of semi-sweet, modestly priced insipidity, is part of a much more elegant family.
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/ 23 November 2011
<b>Claire Hu</b> rounds up some of the best organic local wines.
If you have an aptitude for maths and engineering you could be a winemaker.
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/ 11 November 2011
Too many producers regard wine journalists as badly paid PR people.
How often do you find yourself drawn to a restaurant because of great specials on the food, only to discover an exorbitant bill at the end?
In those famous good old days, it was accepted that serious red wines shouldn’t, be drunk for five or 10 or 20 years from vintage.
A lot of you, I’m sure, already chill lighter reds but I wonder how many of you would bring down the temperature of a medium to full-bodied one?
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/ 25 February 2011
Not fancying an evening of Abdullah Ibrahim on an empty stomach, we looked around for an early quick fix of food and wine.
A confession, with the taste of three lovely wines still lingering on my tongue and no doubt fuzzing my mind.
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/ 16 December 2010
It’s easy enough to claim (and many do) that South Africa’s top wines are underrated internationally.
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/ 19 October 2010
Pressed against the mountain, above the splendid Franschhoek valley, is the new small vineyard site from which Gottfried Mocke will make a pinot noir.
It shook me when an acquaintance asked recently what "syrah" signified on a wine label, writes <b> Tim James</b>.
It came dangerously close to a major upset: France just pipped South Africa — but only with the help of a rather dodgy decision by the ref.
declared Bordeaux’s new vintage the best in living memory. But how can they judge wines that won’t be ready to drink for another few decades?
White lies often give wine manufacturers the edge when they’re gunning for awards, writes Tim James.