Here’s a film from my recent visit to South Africa’s Egin wine region for the Chardonnay Colloquium:
Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium: Elgin versus the rest of the world, a blind tasting
This was very interesting: as part of the Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium, we did a blind tasting with 21 different wines, pitching Elgin’s finest against some international benchmarks. Michael Fridjhon and…
Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium: tasting 16 Chardonnays from 2016
This weekend is the second instalment of the Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium, and as part of yesterday’s proceedings, we tried 16 different wines from the 2016 vintage. This is a warmer,…
Video: what makes Elgin a special wine region?
In this video clip, I interview Andrew Gunn of Iona, and his winemaker Werner Muller, about what makes the Elgin Valley a special wine region. We also talk about Elgin’s…
Elgin vintage experience 4, Elgin Ridge
The final day of my Elgin vintage experience 2017 was spent with biodynamic winery Elgin Ridge. This is a film of the day: We went to the vineyards where Sauvignon…
Elgin vintage experience 3, Almenkerk
Day 3 of my Elgin harvest experiences was at Almenkerk, hosted by owners Joris van Almenkerk and Natalie Opstaele. They are great fun and have a really thoughtful, scientific approach…
Elgin vintage experience 2, Paul Cluver
Paul Cluver is the pioneering wine farm of Elgin. Dr Paul Cluver, a leading neurological consultant, planted vines here in 1987. ‘Everyone thought we were crazy,’ he said, because at…
Elgin vintage experience 1, Iona
The first day of my vintage experience in South Africa’s Elgin region was spent at Iona. I was with Werner Muller, the winemaker, for the day. Iona have three properties:…
In Elgin, South Africa, day 1
I’m currently in South Africa’s Elgin Valley, which I visited last October for the Chardonnay Symposium. I’m here to experience vintage with four different producers: Iona, Almenkerk, Paul Cluver and…