In the third year of The World’s 50 Best Vineyards being announced, the 2021 Top 50 Vineyard List includes three South African wine estates.
Creation has made the 10th rank on the list, with Delaire Graff (Rank 30) and Klein Constantia (44th Rank) on the Top 50 List too. Creation jumped dramatically from outside of the Top 50 List in 2020, while Delaire Graff slid dramatically from 14th Best in 2020. Continue reading →
Yesterday afternoon WineMag presented its first Merlot Report in a number of years, an evaluation of 67 entries. It was motivated by the Merlot Forum, and the results of the Report reflected that wines in the category are ‘good‘, but can improve greatly, according to WineMag Editor Christian Eedes. The ceremony was held at Asara wine estate outside Stellenbosch. Continue reading →
Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines
* Wine writer and taster Tim Atkin has released his Tim Atkin 2015 South Africa Special Report, describing our country as the ‘most dynamic and exciting winemaking country in the New World‘! He lauds our winemaking industry for its ‘diverse terroirs, old vines and pure winemaking talent’. He writes that it has ‘never been so intoxicating to taste and drink the wines of the Cape‘! For the first time he has saluted our top winemakers (Eben Sadie and Morné Vrey) and wines Continue reading →
On Friday last week we were invited to attend the launch of Delaire Graff’s new Crémant de Loire blend MCC, unique in that it is Chenin Blanc driven, and a unique blend with Chardonnay and Cabernet Franc grapes. The new MCC is named after the ‘118.08 carat Delaire Sunrise Diamond, the largest square emerald cut fancy vivid yellow diamond in the world‘, in reflecting the colour of the yellow diamond.
Winemaker Morné Vrey introduced the MCC to us, saying that in the seven years that he has been at Delaire Graff, he knew the day would come that he would be asked to make an MCC. He wanted to make something different, so traveled to the Loire valley, the making of the MCC being ‘a learning curve for him‘, he said. Given Delaire Graff’s strong Loire-style wine 
portfolio, he decided to make the Chenin-dominant (58%) MCC, with 34% Chardonnay and 8% Cabernet Franc. The Chenin Blanc grapes came from 20 year old Stellenbosch bush vine, while the Chardonnay grapes came from Elgin, and the Cabernet Franc from Stellenbosch. It spent 15 months on the lees. Residual sugar is 5,9 g/liter.
The first Sunrise was bottled last year, but the MCC will be sold NV (Non Vintage). The MCC will only be sold at Delaire Continue reading →