Yvonne Lester, committee member of the Merlot Forum – also known as Hallo Merlot! – and head winemaker at Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons, talks about her career and Merlot.

Motivating the importance of the Cape White Blend Report, Winemag editor Christian Eedes says: “Chenin (Blanc) is our most planted variety by far (17 543ha in the ground at the end of 2017, this making up 18.6% of the national vineyard) and we should find ways to celebrate it.”

Org de Rac’s Die Waghuis 2017 took top honours at the recent Cape White Blend Report compiled by leading South African digital magazine Winemag, being one of only four wines and the only certified organic wine to achieve a 94pt rating in the 2018 competition.

With only seventy hectares of Bukettraube vineyards left in the world, South Africa has the majority of these plantings, coming in at 50 hectares.

Top image: Johann de Wet, Rudi Liebenberg and Gera de Wet

Rudi Liebenberg, the executive chef at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel in Cape Town, is the recipient of this year’s Golden Vine Award, an honour bestowed on a leading South African chef during the De Wetshof Celebration of Chardonnay.

A Sauvignon Blanc made by fermenting juice that had been frozen during harvest five months earlier has led to Diemersdal Wine Estate in Durbanville being one of two finalists in this year’s Winery Innovator in the International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC). The IWSC is the world’s largest drinks competition annually attracting entries from over 90 countries.

One rosé wine set to be the darling of this summer’s holiday season is the Pink Pyjama Bush 2018 from Darling Cellars, the leading winery in this well-known wine region on the cool Cape West Coast. The Pink Pyjama Bush blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Grenache is named after the pink-and-blue flower of the same name (scientific name: Lobostemon fruticosus) – that blooms in the vicinity of Darling as well as in various other parts of the Western Cape during spring and summer.

The ground-breaking Winter Ferment Sauvignon Blanc has just achieved its second consecutive FNB Top 10 Sauvignon Blanc accolade for Diemersdal Estate, the pioneering Sauvignon Blanc producer from Durbanville.

By achieving the highest rating for unwooded Chardonnay at this year’s Veritas Wine Awards, De Wetshof Estate from Robertson becomes arguably the most awarded unwooded Chardonnay producer in South Africa.

Top image: Christo Pienaar, left, chairperson of Veritas, with the team from Darling Cellars – marketing manager Lourens Relihan and winemakers Maggie Immelman, Carel Hugo, Anthony Meduna.

In its best showing to date at the prestigious Veritas Awards, Darling Cellars turned in a performance seeing it named one of the top five producers at this year’s competition, winning two Double Gold and three Gold medals.