grape

A year-and-a-bit ago we were all expecting (after a lot of on-off rumours) the imminent purchase of Cordoba and perhaps Mulderbosch by Charles Banks, a rich American who had recently severed his relationship with the Californian cult producer Screaming Eagle Read more

The Cape Winemaker's Guild has announced the wines that will be on offer at its auction to be held in Stellenbosch on 2 October. Read more

Sometimes producers can have too much of a good idea. If a little extra freshness can lift the aromatic profile of a young white wine, it's not necessarily wise to go for a little more. Read more

For bringing warmth to your wintry blood and fire to your frosty belly, you can't do better than gorgeous, but sadly unfashionable, fortified wine. Read more

We have just heard with regret of the death of Graham Beck, the businessman who has for many years been a leading and significant owner of South African wine interests Read more

Perhaps wine competitions - and stickers - are addictive. Despite raging controversies, wineries just can’t seem to get enough. Read more

Perhaps wine competitions - and stickers - are addictive. Despite raging controversies, wineries just can’t seem to get enough. Read more

Popularity breeds success, success breeds fashionability; and, as we know, as quickly as something can be in fashion, so it can disappear through the black hole out of fashion. Read more

There have been some fascinating recent changes to the welter of South African legislation governing the making and selling of wine. Read more

Pink is not usually a colour - even when it comes to wine - that occupies much of my mind, so it surprised me that so many wine 'things' pink have been a part of my life recently. Read more

Five years ago, international tasters and wine critics had no time for South African shiraz. Many of them also did not think highly of South African cabernet and positively reviled pinotage. Read more

The worms are industriously eating, excreting and mating in Michael Malherbe's wormery at the Laibach estate in Stellenbosch. Read more

The death has been announced of Dr Julius Laszlo. Distell has issued the following notice, paying tribute to his legacy. Read more

Monday, July 19, is the 80th birthday of Delheim’s colourful patriarch. It should be a public holiday in the winelands. Read more

There's something about Wine mag's Shiraz Challenge that brings a little tear to my eye as the memory of The Widow comes to mind. It was always one of her favourite disasters. Read more

It used to be a dream floating deep in the southern ocean, today its footprint is increasingly marching across the Cape winelands. Provocative pinot has arrived and is being conquered. Read more

Not long ago, Franschhoek was something of a vinous backwater, a town too far in terms of winelands tourism. Read more

The World Cup has had real benefits for South African wine, according to WOSA. Read more

Even those whose summertime lust for sauvignon blanc is boundless might want something a little less crunchily crisp for white wine drinking in cooler times. Read more

Mark Solms, 'director' of the Solms Delta estate on the eastern banks of the Dwars River more or less equidistant from Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, went to great pains to explain to the retailers and wine writers packing out the estate's Fyndraai restaurant that its latest release is not a port. Read more