South African wine is eternally exciting. It’s a country bursting with maverick winemakers, swaggering onto the wine scene with innovative ideas, original designs and their treasure trove of old vines – a forgotten leftover from the country’s brandy making days.

The once blend-relegated Cinsault is now gaining popularity as a refreshing, rustic, red-fruited easy-quaffer from minimal-intervention winemakers. Pinotage, that most marmite of grapes, has lost its toffee-coffee rubberiness and been reborn as something far more elegant, fresh and floral. Cabernet Sauvignon is being lauded in Stellenbosch.

Syrah and Viognier seem to avoid the heavy handedness sometimes found in warm climates to create plush, silky wines. Chenin Blanc is still the most planted, a gift of a grape that can slide fr

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