De Krans, widely known as being one of SA’s leading port-style wine producers, recently welcomed the wonderful news of having earned top praise at this year’s 2020 National Wine Challenge Awards/ Top 100 SA Wines. Both their Cape Vintage Reserve 2017 port-style wine and Touriga Nacional 2018 dry red wine were awarded the Grand Cru National Champion Best in Class titles (Best in Category) as well as a Double Platinum and position on the sought-after Top 100 SA Wines for 2020. The flagship dry red Tritonia Red (Calitzdorp blend) 2017 was also a recipient of a Double Platinum as well as securing a spot on the Top 100 list. The awards were announced at a special event on Wednesday, 15 July.

 

Winter is that time of the year where our social lives go into unofficial hibernation and we tend to stay in, develop our home cooking skills and spend our evenings sipping delicious drinks in front of the fireplace, snuggled up under a blanket. During the past decade port-style wines have both managed to evolve in its versatility, such as the De Krans Cape Pink which is used as a cocktail mixer, and expanded on the traditional styles, for example tweaking a Cape Vintage to produce a lovely and unique dessert wine called Espresso.  It is also almost 10 years since the EU agreement that every port-style wine bottled outside of Portugal from January 2012 may no longer display the word ‘port’ on the label.  Taking into account that there are various styles of port, all ‘port-style’ wines originating from South Africa exhibit the word ‘Cape’ in front of the style, for example Cape Ruby, Cape Vintage.

 

With most of our wine supplies looking rather sad at this stage of lockdown, there is some good news. De Krans Wines’ recently launched Muscat Nectar Alcohol-Free Sparkling is still available to purchase and enjoy, whilst we await further news on alcohol sales reopening. This refreshing alcohol-free Muscat Nectar consists of 100% muscat grapes with a slight fizz added when bottled. The Muscat Nectar has lovely tropical fruit flavours with muscat tones and a balanced acidity. Similar to the De Krans White and Red Moscato Perlé, the Muscat Nectar Alcohol- Free Sparkling will no doubt appeal to those preferring a slightly sweeter, fizzy option either on a menu or on the shelf.

 

Although De Krans is synonymous with producing award-winning port-style wines, they have really managed to extend their relationship with Portuguese cultivars beyond their fortified range, resulting in a diverse and unique range of dry, still wines, known as the Terroir range.

 

A Twist of Fate, a blend between Portuguese grape varieties Tinta Barocca and Tinta Amarela, forms part of the De Krans Terroir Range. A Twist of Fate is a lighter style red wine, which is arguably comparable to a Pinot Noir in terms of style and use. The concept behind this wine was to produce a lighter style red wine, which should be served chilled, making this wine perfect for those warmer days. Free run juice is used resulting in delicious strawberry and cherry flavours with a lovely earthiness, hints of spice and a subtle oak character.

 

The Prescient Report of the Top 10 Sweet Wines & Fortifieds as convened by Winemag.co.za has been released, with De Krans Wines securing no less than three of these spots. The deserving recipients were the De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve 2016 and 2017 respectively as well as the De Krans Muscat De Frontignan 2019.

 

De Krans Wines has expanded its Moscato range with the release of the Muscat Nectar Alcohol-Free Sparkling. This refreshing alcohol-free Muscat Nectar consists of 100% muscat grapes with a slight fizz added when bottled. The Muscat Nectar has lovely tropical fruit flavours with muscat tones and balanced acidity. Similar to the De Krans White and Red Moscato Perlé, the Muscat Nectar Alcohol- Free Sparkling will no doubt appeal to those preferring a slightly sweeter, fizzy option either on a menu or on the shelf.

 

As one of South Africa’s leading port producers, De Krans’ commitment to producing a quality product has yet again been acknowledged by the South African Wine & Cellar Classifications, which saw De Krans being recognized as one of the Top 10 Cape Port producers over the past 10 years (2010 – 2019).

 

Chenin Blanc as a variety arguably still has some way to go in terms of reaching the same level of popularity as Sauvignon Blanc. While the comparison of apples and oranges isn’t fair, it does warm the heart to find a greater selection of quality Chenin Blanc wines both on shelves and on wine lists. With Chenin being so chameleon-like in its style, the most important thing is to find your preferred style of Chenin, and enjoying South Africa’s national white grape variety is all about finding the right fit for you.

 

Originally from Italy where it is known as Moscato d’Asti (Moscato from the Asti region in northwest Italy), Moscato as a variety is not exactly new to the South African wine scene. De Krans, located in Calitzdorp in the Klein Karoo region, first produced a Moscato perlé wine back in 2012. The wine style has started gaining momentum and has now become one of their most popular sellers.