“Wine should smell and taste of fruit, not wood. Oak is a seasoning for wine, not a cure-all for bad viticulture. A one-year moratorium on importing new barrels into SA would be a good idea.”

The 2008 vintage has been a bit tricky, with some unseasonal rains and then some humid spells in between. At face value it would seem that the good wines are good and in relatively short supply; then there’s a whole chunk in the middle that are fairly good and are not in short supply; and [...]

The hype in the wine industry increases at a relentless pace and there are now more shows/awards events than months of the year. I have always maintained that the only real indicator of the success or not of a wine, is the “second-bottle”. Wine writers, retailers and price might well initiate the first purchase, but [...]