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South African wine versus the Rest of the World The rise of South African wines has lead to a showdown with many other wine-producing countries, but in fact many of these countries have been surprised by the sudden rise of South Africa and its wines. Some people from overseas have questioned whether South Africa can …

Online wine shops in South Africa As more and more of the globe turns to the internet as a place to do business and make sales, so the South African wine industry has also gone online in order to attract more customers. As shopping online becomes easier for everyone, so it seems likely that these …

RealTimeWine Many people feel that the world of wine drinking has become hopelessly elitist, with experts using language which is beyond most people, and trying to prevent real wine drinkers from saying what they truly feel about the juice of the grape. Although in some parts of the world, wine drinking snobs have complete control …

South African Wine Tours and Routes A South African wine tour is one of the best ways of getting to know the infinite variety of the country’s many attractive wines, and helping you to discover what kind of South African wines you like. The most popular places chosen for these tours are around South Africa’s …

SA wine vintages – the good, the bad and the best! Vintage is an important element in wine production, and different elements in the creation of a particular year’s wine will affect whether it is a good, bad or indifferent wine. The weather or climate while the grapes were growing, the time of picking, the …

The John Platter Guide If you intend to go on a wine-tasting tour of South Africa, then one essential book that you will need to take along is the John Platter Guide. This guide is essentially a Who’s Who of wine producers and wine estates, and also covers new wines, or new vintages of wine …

SA Wine industry overview – Part 2 The South African Wine Industry is quite heavily regulated, with a number of restrictions on what can and cannot be produced. In the middle parts of the 20th century, South African wine production was suffering terribly. The arrival of a blight caused by aphids, and then the restrictions …

SA Wine industry overview – Part 1 South Africa has been a wine-maker for more than 300 years, and although it is classed as a ‘New World’ wine producer, it uses these long traditions to create some of the best quality wines in the world. The South African wine industry is one of the largest …

SA Wine Competitions Wine Competitions are one way to assess whether a wine is good quality, and there are plenty of South African wine competitions to ensure that consumers really know whether a wine is a good purchase. Some of the competitions attract massive amounts of attention, with hundreds of estates putting their bottles into …

South Africa’s wine judges In South Africa, there are now a number of different wine competitions designed to praise high-achievers in the wine industry. The hosts of these competitions, whether it is Veritas, the Top 100, or John Platter Guide, all need to have the wines sampled, graded and then ranked. This tasting and grading …