Our September Events

A review from Karin Wild

With CWG, Taste the Best and Bestseller Degu, we were able to taste our way from highlight to highlight from Thursday to Saturday, with around 550 bottles of wine worth CHF 26 000 being opened. An unbelievable event that has yet to find its equal.

Karin Wild, wine consultant at KapWeine

«Crown jewels» of this wine tasting

I would like to start today with one of the most talented winemakers in South Africa, Donovan Rall. Already on Thursday, at the Cape Winemakers Guild Event, he personally presented his CWG Noa Syrah 2021 from the Swartland. In the nose with typical dark fruit but also fynbos notes. A wine with intensity and structure at only 12.5% alcohol, simply great stuff.

Friday and Saturday Donovan showed his entire wine range. My chosen jewels are the two white wines AVA and NOA, named after his two children. Both are Chenin Blanc, NOA aged in clay amphorae with notes of brioche and apples and an incredible tension in the wine. There are only 1200 bottles of AVA, the notes are more exotic, especially pineapple and guava. Both wines have a wonderful minerality and a salty finish, which according to Donovan is quite typical for his white wines with the 2021 vintage.

I found another gem with another young, incredibly passionate and talented winemaker. His wines and their story touched my heart. Bernhard Bredell, who grew up in a family of winemakers, is the 7th generation of his family to practice winemaking on the soil of his ancestors. With his wines from the Scions of Sinai winery, he pursues the goal of producing authentic wines of the highest quality, which he succeeds in doing without exception in my eyes. The vines for his Chenin Blanc Granitsteen are only 3.5 km from the sea, closer than any other winemaker. I fell in love with his Grenache Blanc Gramadoelas from the Klein Karoo. By the way, this is the only registered Grenache Blanc vineyard in the Klein Karoo. I am convinced that these wines will touch your heart as much as mine with their expressiveness and precision.

Special Offer
SCIONS OF SINAI
Grenache Blanc Gramadoelas – 2022
CHF 26.90 instead of CHF 35.00

Our customers liked these wines best:

The top 10 Taste the Best

• Place 01 – Stellenrust 56 Chenin Blanc Barrel Fermented 2020
• Place 02 – De Trafford Merlot 2017
• Place 03 – Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon Stellenbosch 2019
• Place 04 – Tokara Director’s Reserve Red 2020
• Place 05 – Boekenhoutskloof Cabernet Sauvignon Franschhoek 2020
• Place 06 – Alheit Nautical Dawn Chenin Blanc 2021
• Place 07 – Glenelly Lady May 2017
• Place 08 – Rall Wine White 2021
• Place 09 – Constantia Glen FIVE 2020
• Place 10 – Glenelly Estate Red 2015

The Top 10 Bestseller Tasting

• Place01 – Constantia Glen THREE 2020
• Place 02 – Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2021
• Place 03 – Warwick White Lady Chardonnay 2020
• Place 04 – De Grendel Chardonnay Op die Berg 2022
• Place 05 – Stellenrust 56 Chenin Blanc Barrel Fermented 2020
• Place 06 – Waterkloof Circle of Life White 2021
• Place 07 – Warwick Professor Black Sauvignon Blanc 2022
• Place 08 – Constantia Glen Sauvignon Blanc 2022
• Place 09 – Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Chenin Blanc 2020
• Place 10 – Vilafonté Seriously Old Dirt 2020

Personal favourites

Actually, I could tell you something about every wine again, with so many great wines, it’s hard to choose. However, I’ll try to focus on just a few. One of them is the Cederberg Cabernet Sauvignon Five Generations of the Nieuwoudt family, which settled in the Cederbergs in the 19th century and whose vines are located at an altitude of around 950 – 1000 metres above sea level. The Cabernet shows dark fruit, currant and plums, very intense and with a lot of structure, just the way I love «Cabsav».

While we’re on the subject of Cabernet Sauvignon, there’s no way around the Vergelegen «V» for me. The price is high, but for me it is also one of the best. The wine is complex, multi-layered and very deep. You find aromas of cedar, spices, cigar box, cherries, raspberry and, and, and…. simply wonderful. Again one of those wines for special moments or all moments you want to make special. A speciality of mine! Also really great for me is the G.V.B. also a Cabernet Sauvignon, which is always a highlight, as is the pure Semillon. I admit it, I am – among other things – a Vergelegen fan.

Von wegen Semillon, schon komme ich zum nächsten persönlichen Juwel. Boekenhoutskloof Semillon, er stammt von einem der ältesten Weinberge Südafrikas. Zwei Drittel wird im Barrique und ein Drittel im Betonei ausgebaut, wie mir Marc Kent persönlich erläuterte. Das Resultat ist ein grossartiger Semillon mit ganz viel Alterungspotenzial wie der am Taste the Best Geöffnete 2006-er Jahrgang bewies. Um noch kurz bei Boekenhoutskloof zu bleiben, zu meinen Shiraz Juwelen gehört definitiv der Porseleinberg, einfach Weltklasse. Weine von Boukenhoutskloof machen einfach grossen Spass, wie man auch den beiden Fotos mit dem Export Manager entnehmen kann…

All prices in CHF incl. VAT. Daily price as of 04.10.2023.
Offers valid while stocks last. Errors and price changes subject to change.