Alert Level 3 in South Africa has been indefinitely extended, which continues to prohibit the domestic sale of any alcoholic drink for on- and off-consumption. This means our wine region is effectively shuttered, with wide-ranging consequences not only for producers but also for the tourism and hospitality industries as a whole. But this is not just about business; this ban directly effects upliftment programmes as well as NGOs whose sole reason for existence is to work within the Cape winelands to bring about change. Banning the sale of wine, means taking away funds from organisations actively making a difference in disadvantaged communities. 

“Bubbles have consumed my life,” says Pieter Ferreira. It’s not an overstatement. Widely known as Mr Bubbles; Graham Beck’s cellar master has been on the bubble for 30 vintages. Coming in from the street, he shakes rain out of his hair. We sit down by the fireplace in a wine bar in Stellenbosch, with a glass of each of MCC, of course.

“Wine is a mirror of the environment first,” says Jan ‘Boland’ Coetzee of Vriesenhof Wines . We’re sitting on the porch of his Stellenbosch farmhouse, overlooking the view of vineyards and mountains.

Somewhere between Tulbagh and Ceres lies a wine farm called Waverley Hills.

Is 2016 the year the world will remember as the death of the Champagne flute? If international (and local) trends have anything to say about it, they’re saying adieu to the cylindrical party favourite.

In South African wine circles it’s not often that one hears Merlot spoken about in hushed tones.

Although South Africa’s winemaking history stretches back 350+ years, its regenesis is actually more recent than that.

Su Birch, CEO of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), has challenged the Human Rights Watch report entitled Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa`s Fruit and Wine Industries.

This week Wines of South Africa is hosting tastings in two major UK cites, Edinburgh and London.

I enjoyed three fantastic days out in the winelands last week – trawling around Constantia, the Swartland and Franschhoek with some Austrian representatives of Wein & Co.