FEBRUARY 2024

Winery: Doolhof

Wine Maker: Rüdger van Wyk

Winery Location: Wellingtong

Varietal(s): 100% Cabernet Sauvignon

Vivino Score: 3.80/ 5.00

Retail Price: R175.00

Notes in the wine:

• Garnet, brick red in color, with blackberry, pencil shavings, black cherry, and some spice on the nose.  
•  Medium in body with fine, smooth tannins. The wine is soft and juicy with great length. Grapes were picked by hand and sorted in the cellar. This added to the quality of the final product
• Cold soaking was done for two days, extracting color and aromas early on in the process.

Food pairing: beef fillet with a wild mushroom sauce

Winery: Cape of Good Hope

Winemaker: Mark van Buuren

Winery Location: Swartland

Varietal(s):  86% Syrah, 7% Grenache, 4% Carignan, 2% Mourvèdre, 1Viognier

Vivino Score: 3.90/5.00

Retail Price: R170.00

• Aromatics of Fynbos with herbaceous whiffs, extending to plum and dark fruit characteristics on the nose. 
• Hints of lavender are evident too. A mix of ripe, dark blue and black berries and plum fruit, brushed with spice and herbs. Succulent entry to the mouth with immediate plump, plush blueberry and plum.
•  Lovely inky licorice adds intrigue. Suave, genteel and elegant with a glossy, smoothly varnished long farewell.

Food pairing: stinky blue cheese tartlets

Winery: Newton Johnson

Winemaker:  Newton Johnson

Winery Location: Hemel en Aarde

Varietal(s): 100% Pinot Noir

Vivino Score: 3.90/5.00

Retail Price: R215.00

• Offering a lively introduction to the premium quality and unique characteristics of this grape variety in our area, namely the Upper Hemel-en-Aarde Valley.
• Perfumed layers of red fruits; the warm, rich spice and woody notes mingle with earthy mushroom and dried flower characters. The generous and polished palate is gripped with fine, chalky tannins.
•  Ripe raspberry fruit provides some flesh to the mid palate, with long savoury liquorice flavour in the finish.

Food pairing: Hoisin duck bao bun

Winery: Raka

Winemaker: Josef Dreyer

Winery Location: Stanford

Varietal(s): 100% Cabernet Franc

Vivino Score: 4.00/ 5.00

Retail Price: R170.00

Notes on the wine:

• Liquorice & floral nuances with a slight sweet cherry smell on the nose. The palate has a cherry jam character and a sleek tannin grip.
• All grapes were hand picked and sorted before a pure yeast culture was inoculated. The juice was pumped over the skins 3 – 5 times per day for 5 days. 
• Malolactic fermentation and a brief settling period preceded the wine to a combination of 225-liter barrels of French oak types.

Food pairing: Herb crusted wrack of lamb

Winery: Bruce Jack

Winemaker: Bruce Jack

Winery Location: Hemel en Aarde

Varietal(s): 62% Malbec & 38% Viognier

Vivino Score: 4.10/ 5.00

Retail Price: R233.00

• Malbec grapes are sourced from The Drift Estate and viognier from Wildepaardekloof – the Frater farm near Ashton, also the home of the Mary le Bow wines.
• Co-ferment on the skins of partially fermented Viognier skins plus destemmed and whole clusted Malbec. Must was kept cool for 4 days, after which natural yeast completed the fermentation. 
• Herbaceous with hints of fynbos, rosemary and tobacco leaf, spiced or marinated red meats with a biltong coating. The palate bursts with plum and cherries – smokey.

Food pairing: aged biltong, olives, and goats cheese – lopsidedly decked on a waifer thin cracker.

Winery: Mullineux

Winemaker: Chris and Andrea Mullineux

Winery Location: Swartland

Varietal(s): 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Shiraz

Vivino Score: 3.90/5.00

Retail Price: R110.00

Notes on Wine:

• Great Heart wines have a natural intensity, complexity, and a true sense of place. Each wine reflects the characteristics and potential of the vineyards in which they grow, and we are proud to practise sustainable farming all-round.
• The perfumed nose has notes of plums, cherries, cloves and black pepper. The palate is full but firm and fresh with lovely fruit, spice and length.

Food pairing: salty dark chocolate

Winery: Shannon

Winemaker: Nadia and Gordon Newton Johnson

Winery Location: Elgin

Varietal(s): 100% Semillon

Vivino Score: 3.80/5.00

Retail Price: R185.00

• Using natural yeasts, Shannon Semillon expresses a very distinctive musky nose combining ginger, quinine, lime zest, cardamom in a minerally and flinty style.
• The naturally fermented Semillon, matured on the lees, provides a fuller mouth feel and adds to the complexity of the wine. 
• It is round on entry, then dense and concentrated in the middle, with a saline element giving the spice and citrus flavors a tactile feel that reminded one of an Old-World version of this grape.

Food pairing: smashing fish and chips

Winery: Newton Johnson

Winemaker: Nadia and Gordon Newton Johnson

Winery Location: Hemel en Aarde

Varietal(s): 100% Chardonnay

Vivino Score: 3.80/5.0

Retail Price: R180.00

• A wine with energy and intensity. The high-toned, rapier-like lime fruit is buoyed with sharp ginger, white pepper and flint.
•  Crushed stones and saltiness sustain the refreshing appeal. Good weight of flavour in the mid palate boosted with bright acidity and grippy texture.

Food pairing: Popcorn chicken with a black-pepper mayonnaise dipping sauce

Winery: Bruce Jack

Winemaker: Bruce Jack

Winery Location: Cape Agalhus

Varietal(s): 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Vivino Score: 3.90/ 5.00

Retail Price: R160.00

• Hints of minerality and salinity with litchi on the nose. These vineyards are on Moddervlei Farm in Elim. Grapes are hand picked, cold room overnight. 
•  This range of wines exists to allow winemaking imagination and passion free reign… these wines are disinterested in market trends or the whims of wine writers and commentators – we craft these wines to dance that beautiful dance whose beat is the seasons and whose music is luck.

Food pairing: warm goat cheese salad with fresh herbs, tomatoes, and a punchy vinaigrette

Winery: Cederberg

Winemaker: David Nieuwoudt

Winery Location: Clan William

Varietal(s): Sauvignon Blanc

Vivino Score: 4.00/5.00

Retail Price: R120.00

Notes on the wine:

• This cool-climate Sauvignon Blanc beguiles with a translucent, palest-of-yellow colour. 
• An expressive nose of Cape gooseberry, granadilla (passion fruit), pineapple, kiwifruit and hints of lime citrus leads to a gentle palate that is both savoury and creamy, followed by a clean finish of refreshing Granny Smith green apples. 

Food pairing: Quick and easy pesto pasta dish with chicken and fresh tomatoes

Winery: Mullineux

Winemaker: Chris and Andrea Mullineux

Winery Location: 100%Chenin Blanc

Varietal(s): 100% Chenin Blanc

Vivino Score: 3.80/ 5.00

Retail Price: R110.00

• Honeydew melon, honey-soaked peach and tinned pineapple flavors punctuated with fresh acidity. 
•  This Chenin has a nose of green and yellow citrus, stone fruit and hint of flint. The palate has lovely texture with a full mouthfeel typical of the Swartland and this is balanced by a vibrant acidity and some pithy character.
• The wine has a fresh, mineral finish. Grapes were pressed whole-bunch and the juice allowed to settle overnight.

Food pairing: Greek salad

Winery: Cape of Good Hope Wines

Winemaker: Mark van Buuren

Winery Location: Swartland

Varietal(s):  100% Chenin Blanc

Vivino Score: 3.80/ 4.00

Retail Price: R120.00

• Quince, poached peach and a whiff of vanilla on the nose. The palate is fresh, offering up the peach and quince fruitiness but with a lovely lime tang and vibrance.
•  Textured and long, nothing Is overplayed with impressive harmony, palate weight and genuine refinement. Rewarding aftertaste. All of that is offset against a gentle background of creamy oak – which is subtly but beautifully integrated with charming vanilla and butterscotch notes. 
• Complex nose with apricot and nectarine brushed by a dusty gravel element and just a hint of floral perfume.

Food pairing: salmon fillet with salsa verde, oven roasted baby potatoes, lemon infused long-stemmed brocolli