A bottle of Giant Periwinkle Vin Fume 2013 with Winnie Bowman at Il Leone in De Waterkant today for lunch. What a stunning wine! Chef Daniel Toledo thought it tasted copper. Winnie praised its minerality. A most unusual Sauvignon and a true expression of Elim terroir. 17/20.

Dr Winnie CWM has agreed to chair our blind tasting panel for the weekly Good Value Guru Soirées at the Taj Hotel, 100m from the Company’s Garden vineyard where SA’s first wines were grown. Can there be any better terroir than that? We’ll be interspersing our blind wine tastings with blind tastings of olive oils, artisanal cheeses, coffees, olives with panels of invited experts. Basically anything in the food and wine arena that can benefit from honest tastings rather than the usual marketing hype foisted onto consumers by conflicted “experts.” Tastings will kick off next month and should add a bit of spice and excitement to the SA tasting scene.