I returned from South Africa a week ago, where I spent more than seven days tasting very intensively across virtually every...
L’Avenir, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Pinotage 2015
Sourced from a single parcel of old vines, this shows excellent fruit concentration and very nicely balanced wood spice and...
Beaumont, Bot River (Walker Bay, South Africa) Chenin Blanc 2017
This wine is an object lesson in the very high potential of un-oaked Chenin from South Africa. It shows light floral...
Beaumont, Bot River (Walker Bay, South Africa) Chenin Blanc 2016
I wouldn’t blame you a bit for shying away from buying a bottle of South African Chenin for $35, and in fact I’d...
Crystallum, Elandskloof (South Africa) Pinot Noir 2016
I encountered this during the vinous equivalent of a speed dating session with four very nice people, some of whom were showing...
Momento, Western Cape (South Africa) Chenin Blanc/ Verdehlo 2016
Never having tasted a blend of these two varieties, I would probably not have stopped to even look at this wine on a retail...
Glenelly, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Chardonnay 2016
This is one of the best values I’ve tasted out of more than 5,000 wines to this point in 2017, and even if cost were not...
L’Avenir, Stellenbosch (South Africa) 2015
This is L’Avenir’s best red wine, just a nose in front of the “Single Block” Pinotage and tied with the...
L’Avenir, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Pinotage Rosé 2016
Everybody knows that Pinotage has its detractors (both within South Africa but especially elsewhere around the world, though the...
L’Avenir, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Chenin Blanc 2016
This old vine bottling (from a dry-farmed site that yields only 4 tons of fruit per hectare) is stunning for its combination of...
Glenelly, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Cabernet Sauvignon 2014
This is a Bordeaux-inspired wine founded in 2003 by a Bordeaux-based woman (May de Lencquesaing, then owner of the famous Ch....
Glenelly, Stellenbosch (South Africa) Syrah 2015
This was among the very most exciting wines I tasted while in South Africa last week, though I admit that I approached it with...