Matthew Jukes seemed to have trouble narrowing down his favourite South African winery last year. The respected critic and Daily Mail columnist recently released his list of “25 Hand-Picked South African Wineries of the Year”. In the article, published in South Africa’s Classic Wine magazine, he praises a raft of winemakers for their fresh approach to winemaking (and their surfer good looks), and selects the wines that are helping the Cape’s reputation soar.

Amongst the list are a couple of wines that we stock in-store:

	2010 Original Chenin Blanc, Raats “Bruwer’s 2010 Original Chenin Blanc is a model wine. Sleek, steely and not too fat or wearing too much sugary padding, like so many others, this is a crisp, lean, Chablis-shaped wine and it’s on loads of wine lists, too!”
	2009 Cuvee Cinema Pinot Noir, Crystallum “A new name for me, but one that I will never forget…2009 Cuvée Cinéma Pinot Noir was my highest scoring wine from this grape variety ever in South Africa. This young man is clearly onto something. Let’s hope that the 2010s continue this run – I have no doubt, having subsequently met P-A, that they will.”

In other South African wine news, we have recently got our hands on some back vintage bottles of the “Faithful Hound” Bordeaux-style blend from Stellenbosch stalwarts, Mulderbosch Vineyards. This wine scored an impressive 90 points from Wine Specator, a great achievement for a wine that comes in under £15! Here’s what WS had to say:

2006 Faithful Hound, Mulderbosch “Ripe and tangy, with a mix of red currant, damson plum, Kenya AA coffee and iron notes that glide through the mouthwatering, tobaccotinged finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec.”

Why not grab a bottle for the next time you “Bring and Braai”?