•
When fine food is just fine
Good food and good wine are a treat –
but Melvyn Minnaar, enjoying Buitenverwachting, thinks that
overzealous matching can get in the way of pleasure
•
How many eagles in a nest?
Melvyn Minnaar wonders about the reasons for odd wine names, and is
tormented by the placing of an apostrophe
•
Winemaker arrogance and marketing machines Recent
comments from Nederburg’s cellarmaster relate less to reality than
to wishful thinking, suggests Tim James
•
When second best is at least
pretty good Notes from Tim
James on family names on bottles, on winewriting modesty, and on
some 'second labels'
•
Somewhat diluted fire water
A review by Tim James of a new ‘definitive’ book
on South African brandy
•
Red rather than white gold from
Constantia
Angela Lloyd welcomes the valley's
renewed success with red wines
•
Wine foolishness or greed?
A tale of four restaurants and their
winelists, told by determined BYO winelover Melvyn Minnaar
•
The ten year challenge
Many Cape reds of 1998 are more
disappointing than was expected, says Angela Lloyd
•
When low is quite delightful
Woolworths’ new light wines
give real satisfaction to Melvyn Minnaar
•
Keeping it in the family
Die Martha has nothing to do
with Die Hard, as Tim James discovers in pondering the use of
personal names on Cape wine labels
•
Checking out hit-parade reds
A top-ten line up enjoyed
(with good steak) by Melvyn Minnaar
•
A return to elegance?
Some thoughts on the best of this year's Trophy
Wine Show, from judge Angela Lloyd
•
Dornier's
line of beauty
The wines of this Stellenbosch estate
reflect their environmental aesthetic (and the restaurant’s not bad
either), says a lyrical Melvyn Minnaar
•
When easy drinking gets serious
Melvyn Minnaar celebrates both delicious osés and twist-off caps
•
Casting pearls
...
Some
historically informed (perhaps) thoughts on wine quality and price,
from Tim James
•
Tasting the Cape wines America likes
Angela Lloyd’s notes on the Wine Spectator’s top ten South African wines,
from a recent tasting in Stellenbosch
•
Loving the wine, loving the diversity
Russian wine journalist and educator Bisso Atanassov recalls his latest
visit to the Cape
•
Coming
down to heaven and earth The subtle,
refined wines of Bouchard Finlayson, sampled by Tim James
•
Top South African wines assessed
Jancis Robinson's notes on some Platter high-scorers
•
Burgundian passion in Elgin
Andries Burger's quest for expression is behind
Paul Cluver's new and expensive Pinot Noir, says Melvyn Minnaar
•
Durbanville Hills ten years on
The
winery’s maiden sauvignon still evokes enthusiasm, says Angela Lloyd – which
is more than some more recent developments in the area do
•
When the blind lead the blind What’s
to be done when competitions either give ludicrous results or show evidence
of manipulation, wonders Tim James
•
Persistent quality and just a touch of
confusion Tasting the Morgenster
flagship: 2000 to 2004; a view from Tim James
•
A hundred muscadel summers
Rietvallei’s old vineyard celebrates its first
century
•
Diamond-encrusted skulls, fine wine and
how to judge them Melvyn Minnaar
wonders if blind tasting is best
•
Summer cool
We generally drink our wines too cold or too warm.... plus
some thoughts on jerepigo and ice-cream from Tim James
•
Vilafonté
parallel vertical
Angela
Lloyd’s notes on a tasting of a pair of the Cape’s more expensive red blends
•
A journey
to heaven and earth
Angela Lloyd visits some producers in the Hemel en Aarde
valley
•
Too intelligent and good to survive? Neuroscientist and
winery owner Mark Solms recommends The World of Fine Wine
•
An Indonesian hero and Cape wine
More Islamic connections with old
Constantia emerge
•
Not so green green bottles
Shouldn't we be reacting more negatively to the
overweight packaging of smart wine? wonders Tim James
•
Unpenetrating predictions Looking back to the foresight of
last January shows what DIDN’T happen in 2007….
•
Lunching with Jem
Kevin Arnold traces for Melvyn Minnaar
the vinous roadmap to Waterford's smart new wine
•
Not quite utterly fabulous!
Tim James looks into Michael Olivier’s new wine
guide
•
Flying
with eagles
Two of Constantia's newest wineries rose phoenix-like from the
raging fires of 2000. Angela Lloyd is impressed with their progress
•
Maigret and the case of Sauvignon Blanc
Tim James
undertakes some investigation into the fictional detective's vin blanc
•
The joys and
sorrows of old wine There's nothing quite like it, says
Angela Lloyd, encountering a selection of past Klein Constantia vintages
•
A
new season of sauvignons
Some fashionable single vineyards and new regions considered by Melvyn
Minnaar
•
PC packaging
– but will you drink wine that looks like this?
Melvyn Minnaar sees pleasing design fly out Distell's window
•
All the world’s wine (and the inside news)
Angela
Lloyd reviews the latest edition of Wine Report
•
Self-supporting thinking and drinking
Beyond banning the papsak, how devoted is ‘the
industry’ to combatting alcoholism? wonders Tim James
•
Mapping the world's wines
The
World Atlas of Wine reviewed by Angela Lloyd
•
Stellenbosch
and the cosmos
Going
beyond organics, the biodynamic approach is well established at Reyneke
Wines, as Angela Lloyd discovers
•
Very
flat, Australia (in part, anyway) First notes from
Angela Lloyd, visiting Tasting Australia in Adelaide
•
What's
wrong with South African wine labels Jancis Robinson
notes a problem with Wine of Origin usage – and legislation
•
Purple prose and
green wine Backlabels usually
contain even more nonsense than winewriters' descriptions of wine,
suggests Tim James in his latest Noseweek article
•
Beyerskloof: not only pinotage Beyers
Truter’s surprising bag of high-quality tricks appeals to Melvyn Minnaar
•
Everything from heat exchangers to
crabutet noir The latest edition
of the Wine Industry Directory is reviewed by Tim James
