Pendock Uncorked
South Africa's leading independent drinks commentator...
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7 hours 13 min agoSeptember 2, 2010
15:44
Riesling Reversal
Buitenverwachting cellarmaster Hermann Kirschbaum “is sulking” says owner Lars Maack. Which sounds like the title of an avant garde play Emile Joubert might write for Maynardville. “I’ve told him we must release the 2010 whites and I grubbed up the Riesling two months ago. It’s now a pile of braai wood.” [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Sisters of Sauvignon “We’re all American now” is a slogan for many...
- Just Riesling, Really Calling your association for the advancement of Riesling, Just Riesling,...
- Chenin, the SA Riesling It seems I’m destined never to finish Eric Newby’s comedic...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
September 1, 2010
21:25
Boekenhoutskloof Behemoth gobbles up the Helderberg
The Good Value Guru is sad. After three decades of bi-annual visits to the Helderberg Co-op, the establishment is leaving the sheltered cove of the Company of Wine People, itself formed by a merger of Stellenbosch Co-ops, to become part of Boekenhoutskloof, the Franschhoek grape Godzilla that is chomping up winemaking resources faster than [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Ferrari Scaglietti on the Helderberg Ernie Els’ 350 Km/hr Ferrari Scaglietti has arrived from Italy...
- Liquid Black Ladies Dark ladies are dreadfully overrated. Shakespeare’s sonnets # 127-152, written...
- French-kissing in Franschhoek With the news that 45 branches of Borders booksellers are...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 31, 2010
22:24
Poephol Blanc
One thing that is becoming increasingly clear as the Good Value Guru and I drive through the heartland of SA wine is that 2010 is a vintage for Chenin rather than Sauvignon Blanc. That said, there are still a few outstanding 2010 Sauvignons worth searching out. Like the 2010 from Nitida. “This wine is [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Sauvignon Blanc Ageism A rude blast of ageism from infantile baby blogger TVDionysus...
- Looking for a Big Lebowski Chenin Blanc “Why doesn’t Johannesburg get Chenin?” wondered Cheniniste Jasper Raats “all...
- Platter on People’s A most generous review of The People’s Guide on page...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 30, 2010
21:24
Darling Salmon and Gormless Tony
Savoury salmon tart for breakfast this morning cooked by dashing Debbie McLaughlin, mine hostess with the mostest, at Trinity Guest Lodge in Darling. On the table, an empty bottle of The Yair 2009 from the previous evening plus a red jumper forgotten by a Sunday luncher. If it’s yours, Shaun is keeping it [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- A Reverse Roman and a Diners Club Surprise The blogosphere is bubbling over the $47K pasta lunch for...
- Sea Bream and Shiraz Lunch at Zest Bistro in Pretoria with Ray Edwards, irrepressible...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 29, 2010
07:37
Googling Grapes
The use of Google Maps was frustratingly demonstrated at Thursday’s workshop on applications for the technology in SA wine. For the event was held at the Protea Fire & Ice! Hotel located at 198 Bree Street in the Bo-Kaap and a Google enabled iPad was necessary to find the place. When Bree Street [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Hot in the City My description of Narina Trogon as “Braamfontein’s brave little restaurant”...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 28, 2010
18:58
Sub’s Revenge
It didn’t take Tim James, new wine columnist at the earnest Mail & Guardian, long to piss off that organ’s subeditors. The name of his column alternates between Corkscrewed and Cock Screwed. Let’s hope this is not a clumsy attempt to “out” the “suspiciously childless” Tim, to appropriate a phrase he famously deployed [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- OBIKWA Klaar The marketing department at Distell has played a blinder with...
- FM, new organ of record for SA wine? After last week’s gloomy stock-take of SA wine in the...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
05:12
Wisdom of Crowds
Friday started off with a breakfast at Webersburg straight out of a Vermeer painting. Mid-winter farmhouse kitchen with burnished copper, terracotta tiles and yellowwood. There were even maids, although they weren’t wearing bonnets or pearl earrings. The invitation to the 2010 La Motte Shiraz Experience put kick-off down for 8h30, but birthday [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Rhône Rangers Revisited My pick of the reds at this year’s upcoming Cape...
- Rounding Up Rhône Rangers The Hospice du Rhône (HdR) “is globally regarded as the...
- Julius owes Jonnie an Apology Just what has the head of the ANC Youth League,...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 27, 2010
17:00
Courageous Cabernet
Winemaking consultant Giorgio Dalla Cia calls his technique at Webersburg “the Slowfood approach to making wine.” Which I would translate as a respect for tradition and a refusal to genuflect before the stylish gods fashion which has seen the wines of Webersburg’s Helderberg neighbours increase in price, alcohol, extract and amount of new wood [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Captive Cabernet Medieval Jewish rabbis would get around the perennial problem of...
- Boekenhoutskloof Behemoth gobbles up the Helderberg The Good Value Guru is sad. After three decades of...
- Five Gold Rings: Pendock Prizes 2009 On the Fifth day of Christmas Postman Pat gave to...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 25, 2010
18:34
Pendock Prefers…
A blind tasting of 39 of the lots on offer at the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction on 2 October and a copy of John Buchan’s Greenmantle, the follow-up to The 39 Steps, waiting for me in the post when I got home. Talk about synchronicity! I felt a little like Daniel entering the [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Jancis ACEs the Swartland Christmas is a time for lists, so on cue the...
- Five Gold Rings: Pendock Prizes 2009 On the Fifth day of Christmas Postman Pat gave to...
- Dinging your Dong Could Thursday’s consumer blind tasting of Two Oceans wines be...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
05:54
Mixing it up with Morné
I spoke to Morné Vrey, winemaker at Delaire Graff and winner of the annual Paardeberg/Simonsberg Potjie cook-off. span id=”more-5609″> Q: Your Pastis palate cleanser was a winner. How did you come up with it? A: It was while we were filling the press for the 2010 Cabernet Franc Rosé, I use a lot of dry Ice [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Boerebaisse The name of the dish is so punny, you expect...
- A Countess Remembers her Granny “At last, a man of my size” was the greeting...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 24, 2010
08:20
Partyberg Crisis
The Partyberg, prime wine producing appellation between Malmesbury, where people bray and Riebeek-Kasteel, where people wear gray (this season’s new black), is in crisis and for once I’m not talking about the hysterical “camp” followers of local winemaker Eben Sadie, as Mike Fridjhon humorously described Eben’s far-flung church in Business Day last week. For [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Oesaf on the Partyberg “They should call the Paardeberg the Partyberg,” said Pieter Euvrard...
- Crimewave hits the Partyberg Two days of partying on the Paardeberg were bought to...
- Party Crisis The Canadian bombshell that lobster is now half the price...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 23, 2010
17:52
Shiraz: fun for the whole country
WOSA, Wines of SA, the exporters’ mouthpiece, should more accurately be called WOWC (pronounced wow-cee) as when it comes to promoting wine, the Western Cape usually gets exclusive billing. Their bi-annual tasting jamboree is called Cape Wine 2000/2/4/6/8/etc, their braai (braii in Candadian) book is called Cape Wine Braai Masters and their wine industry [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Cape Jazz Shiraz When UK broadcaster Andrew Marr was reprising Scrooge in The...
- Sea Bream and Shiraz Lunch at Zest Bistro in Pretoria with Ray Edwards, irrepressible...
- Sexually Confused Shiraz It’s called a gander, but this 2009 Shiraz from Goose...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
15:38
Quoin Rock Bubbly
Crisply grilled witches hats made from calamari and chorizo sausage for lunch at the Troyeville Hotel today with two bottles of fizz served blind: Louis Roederer NV and Quoin Rock Agulhas maiden vintage supplied by Tadzio who magicked-up a bottle when we met at a larney literary festival in Stellenbosch last year. “Some people [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Bubbly for Long-Legged Mack-Daddies The assassination of Lolly Jackson last week turned the spotlight...
- Bubbly @ Belthazar What better way to celebrate the end of the recession...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
12:26
Swartland Revolution Goes Nuclear
Yesterday’s Sidebar in the Sunday Times on the Swartland Revolution appeared with impeccable timing with a Platter editor addressing the opening act on Grape “I doubt if you’ve stepped into the Swartland in the past decade” thereby leveling a charge of cultural carpetbagism of the worst kind. The Revolution starts with a bang! Perhaps the [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Another Swartland Stunner It was 41 degrees in Barry’s Barn yesterday and 44...
- Jancis ACEs the Swartland Christmas is a time for lists, so on cue the...
- Swartland Sadie leads Michelin BYO charge As UK restaurants fall like nine pins and allow BYO...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 22, 2010
06:31
Noisy Oysters or MCC?
Oysters and Champagne are a match made in culinary heaven but September 16 is one occasion when substitutions with MCC will not work. For E&J Gallo have invited hedonism’s hairy hacks to the Noisy Oyster in Paternoster for the day (and night) to celebrate their nuptials with Namaqua Wines (the largest national winery in [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Jolling with Jono Jonathan Steyn is one of the nicest guys in SA...
- 2009: best SA vintage ever “2009 is the vintage of which I dreamed” says...
- Marvelously Mediocre Milner A tasting this afternoon of yet more “mediocre” reds made...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
00:30
Chatting to Carina
Carina Gous is the head of wine marketing at Distell. I chatted to her about the Nederburg Auction which takes place the weekend after next. span id=”more-5559″> Q: You have appointed a British firm of auctioneers to run the business side of the Auction. What is your thinking behind this? A: With the Nederburg brand, and [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- New Brooms @ Nederburg Auction Dalene Steyn, WOSA’s erstwhile wonder woman of wine recently resigned,...
- Open letter to Angela Lloyd Dear Angela Your comments on the Nederburg and Cape Winemakers...
- Chatting to Caroline Caroline Snyman is Madame Brandy at Distell. I sat next...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 21, 2010
09:52
Hungry Ghosts
August is Hungry Ghost month here in Singapore and bonfires for burning counterfeit currency and food offerings for ghosts are commonplace. My friend Emma Neubronner from Dominie Press tells me that ghosts can be a big problem at this time, pestering the living to do errands for them. I’ve just signed off on [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Swartland Sadie leads Michelin BYO charge As UK restaurants fall like nine pins and allow BYO...
- You couldn’t make this material up… Pinotage lived up to its controversial reputation once again at...
- Great Whites “You’re the most dangerous person in SA wine” chuckled GT...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
06:30
Chatting to Caroline
Caroline Snyman is Madame Brandy at Distell. I sat next to her at a memorable World Cup dinner at the all-singing, all-dancing restaurant on Rust en Vrede. span id=”more-5555″> Q: Why is our brandy production not geographically demarcated as in France? [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Banking on Brandy With bankers scrambling to revalue asset classes in the wake...
- Chatting to Carina Carina Gous is the head of wine marketing at Distell....
- Chatting to Carlen at Cormac’s Lunch with Carlen Groenewald, marketing maven of Distell’s wildly successful...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 20, 2010
06:30
Jolling with Jono
Jonathan Steyn is one of the nicest guys in SA wine. I chatted to him about his Champagne Festival at the end of the month. span id=”more-5551″> Q: Why another Champagne festival? A: In 1971 South Africa’s premier wine producing region, Stellenbosch, released the country’s first wine modeled on the famous sparkling wines of the Champagne region [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Jolling with Jörg “It’s all about pleasure” says Jörg Pfützner, sommelier turned entrepreneur...
- Bubbly @ Belthazar What better way to celebrate the end of the recession...
- Code Noir in Stellenbosch Wine tourism, Stellenbosch style, covers all bases as Emmanuelle Giraud,...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
August 19, 2010
04:15
Talking to Tinus
The Optimus 2009 Sauvignon Blanc from Spar is making waves in the spittoon. I speak to the man who put it together, Officier de l’Ordre du Merité Agricole Tinus van Niekerk. span id=”more-5548″> Q: You are passionate about blending wine, what renders the Optimus Sauvignon Blanc 2009 special? A: The wine is a blend of scrupulously selected [...] Related posts:Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
- Rhône Rangers Revisited My pick of the reds at this year’s upcoming Cape...
- Requiscat in Pace, Marla Pietton Marla Pietton, wife of the French ambassador to Lebanon, died...
- Zalze at Zest A bad day for beetroot and pigs: Parma ham in...
Categories: Wine & Beverage News, Wine Blogs from South Africa, Wine Blogs in English
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