Wine Atlas

In less than two weeks' time the 2008 Decanter World Wine Awards entry system will close. Wine producers all over the world have been sending in their top wines to be tasted - to date we have had more entries than ever before.

Our panel of world class judges are gearing up their palates for the medal winners that will surprise and delight them. The Decanter World Wine Awards is the only competition to judged on a regional level, hence its reputation as "THE ultimate terroir competition".

Continue reading

Many people are familiar with Australia, California, Italy, France and Germany as wine growing regions. Many people have also stumbled upon the wonderful wines of Chile, Argentina and the Northwest and these wines are seeing an increasing surge in popularity. But one wine region which possesses fantastic wines and is often neglected in all the excitement for its more well know counterparts is South Africa.

Continue reading

CAPE TOWN - Ducks, wasps and beetles are pioneer viticulturalist Johnathan Grieve’s insect killers of choice in his goal of creating one of South Africa’s first entirely organic wine farms. A flock of about 40 ducks patrol Avondale, Grieve’s farm in the Paarl area of the fertile Cape winelands, daily picking snails off the precious vines.

Predatory wasps and beetles are released to take care of another pest -- mealy bugs.

‘I find that making use of these natural predators works much more effectively, and is a lot cheaper,’ said Grieve, who no longer uses any chemical insecticides.

Continue reading

Famous in the wine world - and made infamous outside it by the film documentary Mondovino, the Fahrenheit 9/11 of the wine world - über consultant, Michel Rolland, is proud of what he does. 'No one else does what I do. No one. No one has 100 clients in 12 countries. I am an archetype of a consultant.' Rolland's claim cannot be said to be unfounded. Over the last 30 years he has expanded his business to include clients in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, the US and of course South Africa - where he consults for the Rupert and Rothschild partnership, and more recently L'Ormarins and Marianne, formerly named Mont Destin. L'Ormarins is owned by the Rupert family, and Marianne was bought by a friend of Rolland's, Christian Dauriac, in October 2003. In Stellenbosch Rolland and his wife, Dany, an oenologist, also have a joint venture with Murray and Juliet Boustred at Remhoogte Estate.

Continue reading

With cries of 'vive le France' and 'hier kom die Bokke!' 10 Western and Northern Cape wine farm workers this week set-off for the Burgundy wine region in France to receive theoretical and practical education about the Burgundian wine industry, producers of some of the most famous red and white wines in the world.

The two month excursion is part of an exchange programme between the local governments of the Western Cape and Burgundy that annually sees 10 South African wine farm workers visiting France to broaden their horizons and to expose them to a famous wine culture.

Continue reading

Continue reading

Situated amidst some the country’s top red wine producers on the slopes of the Helderberg outside Stellenbosch and known in its own right as a producer of award winning Cabernet Sauvignon, Webersburg has just released its very first Bordeaux blend, Webersburg 2002.

Made by Giorgio Dalla Cia, one of the foremost pioneers of South African Bordeaux style blends, Webersburg 2002 is a classic combination of Cabernet Sauvignon (70 percent) and Merlot (30 percent).

"Iron fist in a silk glove," is how Giorgio describes this robust, yet elegant wine which spent 18 months in small French oak barrels.

Very masculine in character with the leatheriness and black olives of the Cabernet complementing the cherries and boiled beetroot of the Merlot, this is a well-balanced wine with a long lingering aftertaste.

Continue reading : lifestyle.iafrica.com

Fine red wine is the perfect antidote to the chill of winter. Now wine enthusiasts can beat the blues by enjoying a selection of the best-rated red wines from five different categories - Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage and Red Blends - at public WINE tastings in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Continue reading