The FNB Sauvignon Blanc 2015 Top 10 wines were announced over a lunch held at Val de Vie today!
Invited guests included the Top 20 Finalists for the awards, and tasting tables had been set up to allow the twenty Finalist wines to be tasted. No one knew who would make the Top 10 list. A shelf had been set up to display all top twenty Continue reading →
Yesterday the second Standard Bank Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge was held at the Cape Grace, with the Top 10 Chenin Blancs selected out of a total of 145 wines entered. The banner in the pre-lunch venue summarized the stature of Chenin Blanc, with the pay-off line ‘A South African National Treasure‘!
Canapés of pastry cases with salmon and hollandaise sauce were served with Sparklehorse Chenin Blanc MCC made by Ken Forrester Wines. Ken Forrester is the Chairman of the Continue reading →
The 2015 Standard Bank/Chenin Blanc Top 10 Challenge is open for entries, to be evaluated as the most prestigious Chenin Blancs in our country.
Entries close on 3 July. The panel of judges is UK wine writer Jamie Goode, wine consultant and sommelier Higgo Jacobs, Singita wine sourcer Francois Rautenbach, Master of Wine Cathy van Zyl, and associate judges Jaap-Henk Koelewijn of Tokara and Tongai Joseph Dhafava of La Colombe. Continue reading →
The 2015 Platter’s Wine Guide was launched at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel last night, in a Beaujolais Ferment colour, with a number of changes in terms of its methodology to evaluate the 5 star wines, as well as in the content of the Wine Guide. Out of 6000 wines submitted for evaluation, a total of 50 wines and one brandy received the highly desired 5 star rating. The Platter’s Winery of the Year is Sadie Family Wines, the second time that Eben Sadie has received this accolade. DeMorgenzon Reserve Chardonnay 2013 was named the White Wine of the Year, 
and De Trafford Blueprint Syrah 2012 was named the Red Wine of the Year.
The first Platter’s change is that JP Rossouw has been the new publisher for the past year, looking confident last night, relative to his first more restrained presentation a year ago. It was nice to see former publisher Andrew McDowell Continue reading →