Author: blog

A native of the city of Catania, Salvo Foti studied oenology and began his career in 1981 as a technical and agrarian advisor to some notable estates in eastern Sicily.…

In 2015, Lisa Lavagne and Brice Banchet decided to build their life project in the family home in Morlanche, to grow vines and make wine on the land belonging to…

Symbolic Significance of Orange *Orange combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and tropics.  *Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination,…

Thirty years ago Jasper Morris MW was hosting a wine dinner at a restaurant I used to work at. I can’t remember the wine region we were showcasing, but one…

The Schmitt winery has been in the family for over 230 years with Bianka and Daniel working their 16 hectares for the last decade. They work in full biodynamics which…

I love VA (with apologies to Randy Newman) There is a little-known HM Bateman cartoon with a picture of me drinking a beaker of wine, supported by the tagline: The…

In 2018, to commemorate the 30th birthday of Les Caves, I wrote a book. At the time of writing, we appeared to be at the peak of our powers. Business…

After travelling extensively in Portugal and Austria learning his craft, Craig Hawkins returned to South Africa and became the winemaker at top Swartland estate Lammershoek. Craig now makes his own…

This is a series profiling the producers on our list who make natural wines. Within this series we will be highlighting some of the extraordinary and rare bottles and vintages that…

On finishing their studies at agricultural college, Niels and Penny Verburg wanted to make wine but having no access to vineyards led them to leave South Africa in 1989. They…