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By Bridget Galton Read the origional article here. Looming out from my computer screen is an aroma wheel. It's big and comprehensive. Think of any fruit you like, from grapefruit and guava to watermelon and fig, and it's there. Spices, too, starting with cloves and white pepper. Plus some sensations you'd probably never expect in wine, such as custard or straw. Yet all these 60-plus aromas are found in a single grape variety, from a single country. The grape is chenin blanc,

By Swartland Wine and Olive Route View the original article here. South Africa celebrates National Heritage Day on September 24. As the region with the second-highest area after Stellenbosch of old vines, the Swartland certainly falls within the spotlight of the occasion. “Old vines make wine with a unique character,” declares the Old Vine Project (OVP), the organisation championing the protection of vineyards beyond 35 years old. “The OVP believes that the renewed focus on t

By Michel Fridjhon View the origional article here. As the year stumbles towards the first Cape Wine show since the pandemic, I’m beginning to wonder whether we – and by that, I mean those people who think about how the industry markets itself to the world – have not fallen into the convenient trap of defining our USP in terms of our most visible high-profile players. In short, have we defaulted to the idea that what the Cape brings the world is rockstar winemakers working

By Richard Siddle View the origional article here. However much Stellenbosch wants to look forward, its future also lies in its past and the traditions and knowhow that enable so many of the innovations taking place in the region to happen. None more so than in the role of old vines in helping winemakers rediscover, and bring back to life varieties and plots of land that have gone unloved for many years. In the latest article from The Buyer’s Stellenbosch Business Report, Ri

Being based in Stellenbosch on my recent visit, the traditional heart of the South African wine industry, presented a great opportunity to meet up with André Morgenthal and Rosa Kruger, who started the search and documentation of old vines, consequently founding the Old Vine Project in South Africa. My acquaintance with André goes back a number of years – since when he was communications manager for Wines of South Africa (WOSA), so it was especially nice to reunite and experi

By Glenneis Kriel View the origional article here. To combat the effects of climate change, South African wine farmers will have to plan the establishment of new vineyards more carefully, especially if they want them to achieve heritage status. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted that climate change could wipe out more than half of the world’s vineyards by 2050. At an Old Vine Project (OVP) workshop held recently near Stellenbosch, OVP co-founder Rosa

Written by David Kermode View origional article here. In 2002, inspired by the old vines she had seen on a trip to Europe, Rosa Kruger decided to seek out and try to save South Africa’s oldest vineyards. Twenty years later, the drive to record and preserve these vinous veterans has grown into a global movement, with her efforts widely regarded as an exemplar. Kruger officially launched South Africa’s Old Vine Project in 2016, supported by sponsorship from the billionaire indu

By Tamlyn Currin Today is the inaugural Old Vine Day. To celebrate, we begin a series focused on vineyards' most venerable residents. Today's offering is nothing if not topical for those of us in the northern hemisphere. Above, vines young to old trying to withstand the extreme heat. Read the full article here.

The Old Vine Project (OVP) team announced today that they, their members, and wine lovers all over the South Africa and the world, will be celebrating the inaugural Old Vine Day this year on 01 August 2022 (and every year after from now on), this being the founding date of the OVP in 2016. Rosa Kruger, vineyard manager and founder of the OVP, began to catalogue old vines in 2002. Since the formal launch of the OVP six years ago, the organisation has gone from strength to str

Dis Internationale Chenin Blancdag op 17 Junie, maar dis eintlik hier in Suid-Afrika waar dié kultivar behoorlik gevier word. Lees die artikel oor Chenin Blanc feesviering deur Maryke Roberts op Maroela Media hier.

D’Amato & Szabo: Wine Thieves Listen to the podcast here. In this episode: how cataloguing old vines in South Africa has raised standards for fair employment, and sustainable farming and may just prove the key to solving the problem of the country’s most prevalent vine virus. We continue investigating the topic of old vines, this time from a different perspective, as we look to the Certified Heritage Vineyards of South Africa. We hope you’ve built up an appetite for the subj

The Old Vine Project (OVP) has been a game changer for South African wines. When viticulturalist Rosa Kruger began searching for old vines in remote areas of the Cape, and compiling a list of them, there was little information available; she drove herself around and wrote each vineyard down by hand. Fast forward to 2016 and the Old Vine Project was launched, Rosa was joined on her quest by Andre Morgenthal and the status of old vines in South Africa was formalised. View an in

By IWSC View the original article here. This week, members of the IWSC’s expert judging panels are in South Africa, tasting hundreds of wines from across the country. Together with Elizabeth Kelly MW, Victoria Mason, Matteo Montone MS and David Kermode, our judging committee member and Master of Wine, Ali Cooper is at Paarl’s Diamant Estate with local judges tasting through 2022 entrants from all across South Africa. A very quick catch up following the second day of tasting i

In my universe, the world of wine is one big tapestry of people, places and ideas. Within that tapestry there are some threads that meander through its entirety, as what I call “heart strings”. Follow one of these heart strings (of which there are about half a dozen, in my mind) and you’ll end up at its corresponding “anchor” – an origin from which the rest of the tapestry is weaved. I don’t know how much Rosa Kruger would appreciate being called an “anchor” (she doesn’t eve

Two research groups at Stellenbosch University have combined forces to obtain an overview of the sensory and chemical profiles of old-vine Chenin blanc wines. At the Institute for Wine Biotechnology, Department of Viticulture and Oenology, the focus is on the sensory characterisation of the genre, with specific emphasis on aroma and mouth-feel attributes. The research team (Valeria Panzeri, MSc-graduate Renée Crous, and Hélène Nieuwoudt) found that the distinguishing feature

Alone we can do so little; together, we can do so much. This is the slogan with which friends of South African wine in Germany have sent a new premium wine into the German market on 15 February 2021, pledging allegiance with the exceptional quality born from our vines. Imvini Wethu was born when a group of German business owners, importers, and wine industry professionals decided to find a creative and sustainable solution to support the South African wine industry. The idea

Written by Davy Strange View the original review here. This wine is an oenological TARDIS. It has massive features in its core, but they are wrapped up into a very svelte, elegantly-poised wine. That must mean that Ian Naudé is The Doctor and so I must grill him about next week’s lottery numbers! The core of this Old Vine Chenin Blanc is a confidently structured edifice with prodigious density and power. There is old vine depth of fruit, and layers of greengage, grassy, appl