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January-September 2007

• A perspective on Cape Shiraz Vertical tastings of Stellenzicht's and Graham Beck's single-vineyard Syrahs give Angela Lloyd food and drink for thought

• In search of wines past: Part 8 Angela Lloyd concludes her tastings of 1997s with, appropriately, a port

• Shiraz and other absurd challenges A sceptical Tim James wonders in a recent Noseweek article about the value of big wine competitions

• Vinous pleasures of the French corner The Vignerons de Franschhoek show off the ever-improving quality of the Valley's wines

• Old vines, new wines: South African white blends Tim James charts the increasingly persuasive and sensitive responses to local viticultural possibilities

• Pinot progress Notes from Angela Lloyd on pinot noir from Elgin – notably the Paul Cluver

• The pleasures of little wines Inspector Maigret would have enjoyed some of the modest Cape whites, as does Tim James

• What to eat with that viognier…? Melvyn Minnaar looks a finely-tuned guide to wine and food matching

• The rebirth of a classic Ingrid Motteux tastes Meerlust Cabernet from two decades

• The vagaries of vintage Angela Lloyd draws some tentative general conclusions about the quality offered over recent years

• Benchmark: A tale of wine furniture aspiration (Anonymous, as the author does not wish to be publicly identified as ignorant)

• Cork screw Whether you enjoy Jenny Ratcliffe-Wright's Spit or Swallow partly depends on your attitude to relentless sexual reference

• A Platterising blog Some ongoing random notes from Tim James sparked by impressions from tasting for the 2008 Platter Guide

• In search of wines past: Part 7 Angela Lloyd resumes her tastings of local 1997s with memories of a long-past visit to St Emilion and a look at some local 10-year old versions with cabernet franc and merlot

• Closures, costs and Consol Perhaps the local bottle monopolist is as much of a problem as cork taint, in its own way, suggests Tim James in his latest Noseweek article

• In search of wines past: Part 6 Angela Lloyd resumes her tastings of local 1997s with a look at some cabernets and cab-based blends

• Pursuing the line of elegance Foreign judges position the Cape’s wines interestingly in the international line-up, reports Tim James

• Swartland – land of promise Jancis Robinson looks at some wines from one of the Cape's most interesting regions

• Charity among the vines But should the rich producers really need charities to provide for the workers' children on their estates, wonders Tim James

• Calitzdorp: a good port of call The region might be arid and inhospitable, the port producers and their wines are anything but, as Angela Lloyd discovered on a recent visit to this Klein Karoo town

• Goats, digestive systems and grapes Inspired by misinformation about a particular kind of coffee, Tim James wonders what goats might have to do with wine. With tasting notes on the full Goats do Roam range

• A promising newcomer – with a long history Oak Valley Wines in Elgin is a good-news tale, says Angela Lloyd

• The water of life The wineloving Tim James pays his due respects to whisky, but returns from fermented barley to the admittedly more confusing world of fermented grapejuice with a sense of relief...

• The art of blending And there's something oddly like a coffin in the Vilafonté cellar too, says Angela Lloyd

• Cabernet was king in 1997 Notes by Roland Peens on a tasting of some leading Cape cabs and blends celebrating their decade

• Staying on top Kanonkop and Jordan work hard at both consistency and progress, to maintain their enviable reputations, says Angela Lloyd

• Amateurs, professionals, experts and cheats Some thoughts on the Fridjhon-Pendock spat, from Tim James's latest Noseweek article

• The future looks promising L'Avenir seems set to prosper under new owner Michel Laroche, reports Angela Lloyd

• Morgenhof's focus on quality Angela Lloyd visits one of the first Cape wineries to benefit from foreign investment

• Sweet and savoury An array of fine food matched with Vin de Constance made for a great gourmet experience for Tim James

• In search of wines past: Part 5 From Burgundy to the Cape: By 1997 pinot noir and chardonnay were well established here,  producing wines that gave pleasure to Angela Lloyd a decade on

• Interesting and addictive liquids Might the absurdities of coffee geekdom have some lessons for winelovers? Tim James wonders

• The arch anti-terroiriste visits the anglophones A review of Malcolm Gluck’s Brave New World, by Angela Lloyd

• Why it’s the Cape’s top winery Some tasting notes, by Tim James, on the Vergelegen range of wines

• In search of wines past: Part 4 As a new grouping sets out to advance the interests of 'real riesling' in the Cape, Angela Lloyd finds a delicious example from 1997

• In search of wines past: Part 3 A bordeaux blend that is part of Cape history: Another 1997 wine (and story) opened by Angela Lloyd

• Cinders and her pals at the ball Some fine chenins and other interesting whites noted by Tim James

• In search of wines past: Part 2 Another 1997 wine (and story) opened by Angela Lloyd: this time an extraordinary semillon

• In search of wines past: Part 1 Stories and bottles of ten years back (including a truly fine wine), found by a reminiscent Angela Lloyd

September-December 2006

• Wot about the workers!? A new entrepreneur defends their interests against an old entrepreneur, writes Tim James in a recent article in Noseweek

• Branding hits the bottle – Creating identity in a cluttered wine market Giles Griffin looks at current trends

• The Cape's best wines Our panel votes on the top individual labels 

• The top twenty South African wineries A panel of local wine professionals votes on the Cape's best

• Chamonix surges ahead A reinvigorated winery is bringing lustre to the reputation of Franschhoek wine, suggests Tim James

• The more things change…  New research suggests BEE will alter little for the wine industry’s exploited majority

• Ticking off lists Birdwatcher (and wine-man, radio-man, and raconteur) John Maytham reviews two annual books on the world's wines

• Le nouveau est arrivé Beaujolais nouveau time … and Melvyn Minnaar welcomes a local version

• A small revolution Is there sign of a turn to unwooded wines? Angela Lloyd hopes so

• A nerve-wracking season Untimely Cape rains cause problems in the vineyards, winegrowers tell Angela Lloyd

• The Arnie and Dolly show Viognier does not usually make an exactly subtle wine, suggests Tim James

• Making the science of wine accessible Winemaker Chris Williams welcomes a book that has already become something of a classic

• All in the vineyard is lovely...  With a minimum of sardonic irony, Tim James welcomes spring

• Simply, richly indispensable The Oxford Companion to Wine, edited by Jancis Robinson, reviewed by Tim James

• Pinotage, piety and proteas The awards lunch for the annual Pinotage Top Ten Competition is one of a kind, says Tim James, who also sampled the contending wines

• Buying by price and reputation Wine mag’s two annual guides offer something useful, says Angela Lloyd

• The Cape’s great white hope Angela Lloyd enthuses about the blended white wines at the CWG’s recent pre-auction seminar

• Bring your own meanness In a recent Noseweek article, Tim James wonders about problematic restaurant winelists and awful restaurant customers

• Slow walk through the winelands Angela Lloyd takes a walk along the world's first Biodiversity Wine Route

• Terroir, travel and advertorials A new book on South African wine reviewed by a disappointed Tim James

• Towards a dry, white sensation Some top-end white blends intrigued Melvyn Minnaar at a recent tasting

• Sauvage thoughts Angela Lloyd reflects on a seminar about sauvignon blanc

•  Those prowling wine PRs and publicists… The media’s presentation of the wine industry can be too easily distorted, says Melvyn Minnaar

June-August 2006

• Better wines, but what about the soul? Winemakers talk to Tim James about new regulations allowing high-tech removal of alcohol from their wines

• Poor creatures In a recent Noseweek article, Tim James wonders whether most 'critter wines' are charming or merely cynical and pretty awful

• Chameleon changes: New Jordans Melvyn Minnaar feels the urge to blog a pleasant little launch

• Parading the hopefuls Angela Lloyd recently tasted the wines coming up the CWG 2006 auction; they made for an interesting comparison with the Platter five-star line up judged a couple of days later

• Fine eating – with a Cape icon in the glass A review by Tim James of Vin de Constance with Michel Roux Jr

• Who’s who and what’s what Angela Lloyd welcomes the latest guide to wine industry facts, figures and contacts

• A glass of three-penis wine, anyone? Wine has endured stranger additives than green pepper, says Tim James

• Making a (fortified) meal of it Sherry and port can be fine food partners, suggests Angela Lloyd

• Still no closure to the debate Synthetic corks are not a satisfactory answer, suggests Tim James

• Of noble, marketable diversity Melvyn Minnaar tells how small and serious sell in Austria

• Aged wines under screwcap – it works Old yes, but no taint, says Melvyn Minnaar announcing the results of some kitchen trials

• Solitary pleasures, treats and infanticide Don't murder baby wines, urges Tim James in his latest noseweek article

• Tasting in the gardens of Spain Tales of the world’s sweet wines, and Spain’s finest reds, told by Angela Lloyd

• Liquid gold (mostly) Tasting notes on the Trophy Wine Show gold medallists; an opinion from Tim James

• Pinotage 2006 The early showing of this year’s wines had more disappointments than pleasures for Angela Lloyd

• Medal winners: here today, gone tomorrow – or better later? More competitions – and producers – should consider older wines, suggests Angela Lloyd

March-May 2006

• Rich Pickings: The name-dropping restaurateur-retailer and the premier: a tale told by Tim James

• Rethinking pinotage Pure pino funk and fruitiness might be the answer to pinotage’s quest for popularity, suggests Melvyn Minnaar

• Can Cape reds improve for ten – even twenty – years? The second report by Roland Peens of two tastings designed to suggest an answer: Cabs and cab blends

• Tripped up by cork and brett – again There were many problem bottles at the Trophy Wine Show says Melvyn Minnaar

• Adventures in Cape terroir Some of South Africa’s finest and most expressive wines are emerging from the Swartland.  Tim James describes an area undergoing rebirth.

• A dozen fine Swartland reds A tasting to accompany the article on new Swartland wines

• A taste of 2006 The latest (unfinished) wines of CWG members look great; but Angela Lloyd also ponders the organisation's future

• 2006 Cape Winemakers Guild members’ harvest reports

• The Bordeaux state of mind A comparative international tasting helps Melvyn Minnaar come enthusiastically to terms with the most famous of the red blends

• Striking a balance Diversity and unity – both are useful concepts for the industry, suggests Angela Lloyd, musing on some elements of the recent Cape Wine 2006 event

• Can Cape reds improve for ten – even twenty – years? Roland Peens tells of two tastings designed to suggest an answer: Part 1: Pinotage

• Considering a chardonnay celebration Tasting the Cape's 'top ten' and then some. Melvyn Minnaar reports

• How about a party for the locals?Melvyn Minnaar considers Cape Wine 2006’s smart success, and makes a proposal

• What’s in a name? Some oddities, egoisms and plain awfulness in winery nomenclature catch Tim James’s attention

• Early tastes of 2006 Angela Lloyd visits three important Cape cellars as the harvest draws to a close

• Plenty of information, but ... Angela Lloyd reviews The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia by Tom Stevenson

• Old, odd and other oh-so offerings Melvyn Minnaar looks forward (to put it ambiguously) to Nederburg Auction 2006

• Ugandan garagistes Philip Jonker tells of some nuns having educative fun in Robertson

• White wines with prospects Two vertical tastings convince Cathy van Zyl that some Cape whites have ageing potential

• Snoek braai and pinotage at Kanonkop Angela Lloyd samples one of the Cape’s best pinotages, tasting back to 1994

• Luridly lurking among the vines Could we have tabloid-style winewriting? wonders Tim James

• Brainwashed by physiological ripeness? Ripeness is a continuum not an absolute, reminds J-P Rossouw – who finds too much over-ripeness in wines these days

• The world behind the winelands face A project to enrich the lives of children with special needs is forging ahead, reports Angela Lloyd

• Of Constantia muscat and city ice cream Heavenly hanepoot is a summer highlight for Melvyn Minnaar

• Celebrating a large devotion to small-scale winemaking  Tim James enjoys the Beins, their tiny cellar, and their merlot

November 2005-February 2006

• A rewarding sound-bite journey Wine Report 2006, reviewed by Angela Lloyd

• A fine farewell It's possible to get a bit sentimental over the life and death of wine, finds Tim James

• Parker points Rich and sweetly fruity Cape wines aplenty, but the great American doesn't bother with us (fortunately?) says Tim James

•  A glamorous occupation? Angela Lloyd spends a day with two powerful and courted British winewriters

• The buoyant, blushing bridesmaid Ten vintages of Ken Forrester Chenin showcase the wine’s longevity, enthuses Melvyn Minnaar

• A modest new year proposal Some selective boycotting could help restore respectability to wine-writing, thinks Tim James wistfully

• Purple prose and cons Tim James takes a sideways look at some wine-words in the latest Platter Guide

• The deception continues It gets harder and harder to find the truth when marketing turns stealthy, says Cathy van Zyl

• Ten years on Is quality still lacking, ten years after SA’s Shield defeat by Australia, asks Angela Lloyd. Or is it something more complicated keeping Cape wines back?

• Moreish Morgenster Melvyn Minnaar waxes enthusiastic about wine, truffle and olive oils ... and a philosophy

• Dessert wine with everything Five vintages of Joostenberg’s Noble Late Harvest were matched with a range of fine food, to Angela Lloyd’s great pleasure

• Duty and sacrifice The winewriter's life, pondered by Tim James in his latest Noseweek article

August-October 2005

• In vino Veritas – and brett Competitions really shouldn't be rewarding tainted wines as much as they do, says Angela Lloyd

• A new label to notice: Tamboerskloof A stylish, serious Stellenbosch shiraz catches the eye of Melvyn Minnaar

• A South African sommelier in London Roland Peens tells his story

• Turning reds and whites into green Former struggle heroes turn to wine and money, reports Tim James

• Wine mag’s annual guides released ... and here reviewed

• Tokara does it right The vineyards are this fine 'new'  winery's priority, points out Angela Lloyd

• Wine writing and wine business Is there a conflict of interests in Michael Fridjhon’s activities? Tim James thinks there is

• The truth of the soil A splendid – though hardly immaculate – vineyard experiment is taking place in the Perdeberg, reports Tim James

• Fun and fan der Merwes Angela Lloyd does some food and wine matching

• Dangerous hospitality Sometimes there’s need to beware the vinous generosity of  the apparently well-informed says Tim James ungratefully

• Durbanville – land of sauvignon blanc Enthusiasm and fine wines, both welcomed by Angela Lloyd

• The bonds – or not – of the band of brothers and one wine sister Melvyn Minnaar searches doubtfully for the hidden meaning of the 20th annual CWG auction

• The joy of bottles that lie in Sipping seventies sensuality at Overgaauw’s centenary celebration

• Red wine blues Another option in wine colour suddenly seems horrifyingly possible, Tim James discovers

• A tale of two SB sites and tastings Groote Post and De Grendel pinpointed by Melvyn Minnaar as fine sauvignon producers

• No more Paris goblets complimenting food, please Angela Lloyd considers local wine service and wine lists

• Celebrating place and pleasure John Platter’s opening speech at the Stellenbosch Wine Festival

• Facts and figures to hand The latest South African Wine Industry Directory is welcomed by Angela Lloyd

April-July 2005

• Of bright natural acids, screwcaps and sensible regulations Melvyn Minnaar was enthused by a visit to Austria

• Challenging competitions The Shiraz Challenge results prompt Angela Lloyd to reflect on the processes involved in judging wines

• Checking up on Cape Chardonnay A mini taste-off shows up the (better) difference to Melvyn Minnaar

• Bashing Distell At least on the issues of riesling and coolers they deserve it, suggests Tim James

• Italian lessons Touring Campania prompted Angela Lloyd to make some comparisons with the situation back home

• Gold stickers: leading and misleading Is it time to start regulating award and other labels? wonders Melvyn Minnaar

• Meerlust one of many to 'declassify' in 2002 But isn’t there a better way to respond to a poor vintage?

• I have wine! Cathy van Zyl gets started with her tasting for this year’s edition of the Platter guide

• Breaking the bank Cathy van Zyl (no wine snob) wonders if sometimes beer wouldn’t be her better choice at the more price-conscious end of the market

• Putting on a pretty good show... The Trophy Wine Show is maturing well, suggests Tim James, who also finds an interesting aesthetic anomaly in some of its results

• Gullible gluggers It seems there were innocents, fools, cynics and price-manipulating marketers at the Nederburg Auction this year, says Tim James

• Cheats sometimes prosper Questions remain about the KWV flavourants scandal, suggests Tim James – not least regarding the role of its chief winemaker

January - March 2005

• Immortal longings Celebrities and tycoons seem to love get their names (and those of their offspring) onto wine labels...

• Significant show of the Swartland as it is Photographer Tracey Derrick’s Earth Works

• Looking for a Cape cult wine A tasting of some possible candidates

• Shoving Cape shiraz sideways Decanter’s overview tasting has some surprising elements, thinks Melvyn Minnaar

• Pinot prejudices A blind tasting of international wines challenged a fixed mindset, says Angela Lloyd

• Reading the hard stuff Wynboer publishes its technical articles in English

• Seeking closure Screwcap, glass stopper and cork recently met in an impromptu showdown in Cape Town. Tim James was a witness

• Green pepper and potassium ferrocyanide Tim James takes a sideways look at additives (amongst other things) in his latest noseweek article

• Wine mobilised as movie metaphor The sweet comic success of Sideways arrives in SA

• Finding fault Cathy van Zyl attends a tasting where all the wines were (intendedly and educatively) disgusting

• Freshly fallen leaves and smoking jackets Tim James wonders about the recommendations available to winelovers from tasting panels, competitions and guides

October - December 2004

• Two P-wines: Tastings first and final A possible grip on Cape identity with pontac and pinotage

• The best wine read A review of Tom Stevenson’s Wine Report

• Giving wine an address Report on the recent International Conference on Zoning

• Weapon of taint destruction New laboratory to improve the quality of corks used in SA

• Companion Guide to Wines of the World A review by Margie Barker  

• A review of South Africa's Winelands of the Cape, by Gerald Hoberman

• An earthy red rearing to go Touriga naçional is making a quiet advance in Cape vineyards, and not just as a component for port-style wines

• Pink plonk Tim James punts the summery pleasures of good rosé

• South Africa and the world
The Platter guide 2005 and Oz Clarke’s pocket wine book reviewed

• Shiraz, terroir (and a touch of viognier)
Angela Lloyd tastes with Charles Hopkins at Graham Beck’s Franschhoek cellar

• Wine magazine's annual guides
A review of the Pocket wine guide and Best value wine guide 2005

• Results and insults
Tim James considers Icons 2005 and aspects of the Trophy Wine Show 

• Pushing pinotage
Producers should take a more positive approach, suggests Angela Lloyd

• Adventures in Paardeberg Angela Lloyd ventures out of the normal Cape comfort zone to visit Lammershoek, and finds plenty to enthuse about

• Winemaking according to the (genetic) codes
Cathy van Zyl looks apprehensively at some new research implying the further industrialisation of wine

• Supplication of singular style
Lyrical Philip Jonker of Weltevrede offers another Poet’s Prayer. Melvyn Minnaar kneels alongside

• Virtues of weisser
Riesling in South Africa suffers from bad legislation which gives precedence to masqueraders. Tim James looks at these – and at the real thing

• Capturing the great white
Melvyn Minnaar is enthusiastic about the emerging category of quality Cape white blends

July - September 2004

• Quiet blooms of the ‘other’ region
Melvyn Minnaar celebrates the wines of the Klein Karoo

• Tasting young wines, drinking old ones
Cathy van Zyl's update on her (and her editor husband's) progress with the Platter Guide

• Punting pinotage
Tim James looks at three producers successfully using pinotage in blends as well as in single-varietal wines

• That Bulgarian Cabernet – really South African?
An urban legend nailed on Jancis Robinson's website

• Strangers in the night
Judges involved in the Michelangelo awards recently flummoxed a group of journalists – and each other – with some unusual wines

• Blending competition comes of age
Angela Lloyd has been involved in the Blaauwklippen blending competition since 1984. She tells the story of this year’s judging

• Guilding the lily
Some fine wines will be available on the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction. Tim James does not doubt that – though some questions need to be asked about the event itself

• SA Wine Industry Directory 2004/5
A review by Angela Lloyd

• Dithering with Platter
The vast process of producing the annual Platter Guide to South African Wines is well under way. Cathy van Zyl’s role as a taster gets off to a slow start...

• The critic, shows and shiraz
Tim James takes a sideways look at Michael Fridjhon’s latest comments on some show results

• Warwick Trilogy
A vertical tasting, 1990 - 2002. Cathy van Zyl reports

• Axe Hill Cape Vintage Port
A vertical tasting, with assessments by Angela Lloyd