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wine
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Platter 2013 Launched: Worthwhile Christmas Present, Or Just More Ratings Nonsense?
02 Nov 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The 2013 Platter guide has been released and the five star wines have been revealed. Are the five star wines that good? Is the Platter guide the vinous present to buy this Christmas? Harry Haddon finds out.
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Spier Revisited – A Middle Class Wet Dream
26 Oct 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 3 Comments
I have made jokes about Spier in the past. It’s not hard. They have cheetahs and more tourists than you can shake a stick at. The jokes have never been that fair. So I thought I should visit again, to recalibrate my idea of Spier.
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Fascinating History Of The Von Arnim Coat Of Arms – The Home Of Pierre Jourdan
23 Oct 2012 by Seth Rotherham / No Comments
Given the extensive history between 2oceansvibe and our methode cap classique of choice, Pierre Jourdan (Seth’s parents planted some of the trees on the farm!), we found this story about the coat of arms at Haute Cabrière of the German von Arnim family very interesting. We think you will enjoy it too.
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The Day I Was Humbled – A Wine Competition From The Inside
23 Oct 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
I have mentioned in one or more of these columns that I am not exactly a fan of wine competitions. In this column I report back on the challenges I faced when helping judge in a recent local competition.
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The Worst Wines I Have Tasted This Year
21 Sep 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 10 Comments
Every now and then I get sent some wine. I never tire of this. Even if the wine is insipid, badly labeled, and I have to get my panga out of storage to hack through the multi-layered coating of bubble wrap I am happy. I love free shit. I don’t care that I will probably chuck it away soon after opening; it’s the pure and simple joy of opening something that you know you didn’t pay for but is yours. This feeling lasts but a fleeting moment, but oh, it is sweet.
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RADVERTISING: Paso Wine Man On Vino Variety
20 Sep 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
“Does a man have only one life? Yes. One wife? Occasionally. One wine? Preposterous.” That’s how Paso Robles’s Wine Man begins his argument promoting the enjoyment of wine in all its varieties, kicking off what is probably the best ad for wine I’ve ever seen.
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The South African Chenin Story Continues
14 Sep 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 9 Comments
Is South African Chenin any good? According to two international writers it is, and it isn’t. Frustratingly for local producers, mixed messages are being sent out. Locally we have been all “Yeah SA Chenin is the dog’s bollocks!” and then given a full-on smack-down by international writers: “Steady on there Saffas, your wines are definitely […]
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Living With Wine Part II
24 Aug 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 5 Comments
I have done two of these posts in the past and I thought I would do another. I made this decision for two reasons. The first is because they are simply fun to write, and secondly because I enjoy poking fun at the hoighty-toighty world of wine, where food and wine pairings are touted as […]
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Wine: A Big Ballsy Bargain
13 Aug 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
It’s a big, rich wine and it’s a bargain. I prefer the latter to the former, but it’s such a deal I thought it worth writing about. Everybody loves a good bargain. That’s the appeal of flea-markets and second-hand shops. I recently found awesome steam-punk styled salt ‘n pepper grinders for R100. The joy of […]
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Another Weekend Wine Trip: Hemel-en-Aarde Valley
31 Jul 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 4 Comments
It seems we are on to a good thing with these little wine trip columns. So here is another one. It’s in a similar area to the last one, but just a touch further down the road. This week I’ll be giving you a guide to the Hemel en Aarde Valley.
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Evenings of Fine Wine at The Westcliff, Johannesburg
31 Jul 2012 by Seth Rotherham / No Comments
This August The Westcliff is celebrating the exceptional wines and winemakers of South Africa with a series of Evenings of Fine Wine. They will take place every Friday evening in La Belle restaurant at 18h30. The Westcliff has invited some very well-established estates, as well as some newer, more cutting-edge domains, to host their guests […]
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The Digital Life Of South African Wine
21 Jul 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Everything must go digital. That’s what it feels like anyway. I reckon if the Luddites were around today they’d probably have blogs. I have had two digital vinous experiences over the last week or so that I thought were pretty interesting. The ubiquitous “digital”. You want to go on a trip? Blog about it. Hey […]
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Radio Lazarus: A Vineyard Reborn
12 Jul 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 5 Comments
I took a trip out to a vineyard that is being lovingly restored by a winemaker bent on making authentic, great South African wines. It lifted my spirits, it made wine worth writing about.
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Wine Trips: Botrivier
06 Jul 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
It’s time for another wine trip. This week I am taking you out on the N2 over Sir Lowry’s Pass and town into the lush, green, pastoral valley of Botrivier. This region usually gets bunched in with Walker Bay and Elgin. But, I believe, it deserves it’s own column and trip.
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Nine Ways To Increase Your Wine Enjoyment
07 Jun 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 3 Comments
I am sure I have mentioned most of these tips in the past, but there is little harm in reminding you of some solid wine-truths. One thing I promise, if you follow any of these tips, your enjoyment of wine will increase. And, hell, isn’t that what life is all about, drinking wine?
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Lessons From Our Vinous Past
01 Jun 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
We love to forget to learn from the past. Learning from history has never been a strength of human beings. Even though we are continually reminded of our historical forgetfulness, generation after generation thinks it knows better. We repeat ourselves over time, asking the same questions and making the same mistakes; ignoring our artists and poets who have been obsessing over this phenomenon since the first falcon lost its hearing, and the gyre started getting fat.
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Wine Competitions Can Be Useful. No Really. They can.
29 May 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Instead of ripping into these competitions again, I thought I would try to find a few ways that they can be of use to you. Let’s see if I can find a couple of ways to make these seemingly silly, almost pointless competitions useful.
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International Wines To Blow The Budget (Slightly)
11 May 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Lately I’ve been drifting toward the cheaper end of the wine spectrum as the belt has unwillingly been drawn in these tough economic times. So this column’s for stretched budgets, treats, great bottles, and benchmarks. International wines that I have tasted in the last year or so that stuck in my head, that I woke up the next morning still thinking about.
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Some Lessons Over A Glass Or Two Of Pinot
02 May 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 3 Comments
I recently attended a vertical tasting of Bouchard Finlayson Pinot Noirs, with a couple international examples thrown in. It got me thinking about Pinot Noir, and then about language, and then whether it is just better to get drunk. I decided it actually is better to think, so here are my thoughts.
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South African Wine Makers, The Next Generation Part 1
17 Apr 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 9 Comments
Do you ever get frustrated tasting the same wines over and over again? Even if the labels are different, what’s inside never really changes all that much. I can understand this frustration, it happens to me every now and again. Wine is about difference, it’s about different areas, different varieties, different winemakers; at its core wine is about exploration. Wait, that’s not true, at its core wine is fermented grape juice, but you know what I mean. So to aid you in refreshing your palate, this will be the first of two posts listing young winemaker/winemaking teams making exciting personality filled wines from around the country.
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Hacking Life With Wine
13 Apr 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
Wine is drunk a lot. But what else can we do with the contents of Bachus’s juice bottle? Does wine have to be confined to the glass and stew? Does wine have a life outside sipping and slurping? Surely this most miraculous of beverages has other uses. It does friends, it does. And these uses have got me out of a few scrapes in my lifetime let me tell you about a few.
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Wine Tasting Do’s and Dont’s
26 Mar 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Wine tastings. To state the bleeding amputated and mangled obvious, wine tastings are generally the best places to learn about wine if you don’t have an overflowing bank account, or an incredibly well stocked cellar. I can’t recommend going to tastings strongly enough if you are keen to broaden your vinous horizons. That being said, I thought I would give you a little guide of what not to do when you are there. For the most part, the parameters extend to everyday life, and can be summed up neatly as “don’t be a douche”.
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Motörhead Launches Line Of Wine And Vodka
08 Mar 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
English heavy metal band Motörhead has launched a line of bottled alcoholic beverages, because that’s just what you do when you’re a band of a certain age. There’s Motörhead Vodka which, sure, heavy metal, makes sense, and they’ve also released Motörhead Shiraz. Because I guess that’s heavy metal too.
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Wine Drinkers, Let’s Stereotype
08 Feb 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 8 Comments
The next time you are sitting at your favourite after work spot – sipping on something as the day ends while stress and worry take a backseat for the evening – let your gaze wonder to the other customers and observe how they sip their wines. As I am a frequent visitor to a number of bars/restaurants/pubs/wine-bars/shebeens/picnics/holes-in-the-walls/sidewalks/gutters/parks/etc I have observed how people drink my favourite tipple. And when stress and worry get out from the backseat entirely, kicked out by the third bottle, I find myself thinking about stereotypical wine drinkers based on how the wine gets from glass to belly. I present you with a few of my favourites and most observed.
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Wine And Fine Braaing
25 Jan 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
It is summer, and here in the Cape the long evenings nudge one in the direction of that most South African past time: the braai. Growing up, however, it was always beer around the braai and wine (white, nondescript, loaded with ice) in the kitchen. There was, of course, the exception in my French uncle for whom a glass of red wine is never far away. But beer was the norm. Beer dominates the braai. Is it some form of magnetic alliteration? Is beer that much better designed for smoke and charred meat? Do we still hold some outmoded idea that wine is for girls and beer is for boys? Or, possibly, is there some emasculation going on when a can is taken from the chief steak flipper and an elegant riedel glass subbed in?
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Wines For The Unpretentious Jungle Adventurer
06 Jan 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
Durban, the sweaty sticky place of my birth. Salty, thick air, slops, shorts, bananas and spice. If Capetonians are laid-back, it is because they’re stoned. In Durban people are simply mellow. It’s built in, climatic. It takes longer to walk through the weighty, humid air. As I was buffeted by this wall of jungle breath, and a filmy layer of sweat – that would remain with me for the next 10 days – formed, I wondered what wines would suit such a climate. And, more importantly, where could I get them?
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Inside Europe’s Largest Booze Warehouse [PICS]
12 Dec 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Welcome to Avonmouth in Bristol, home to Europe’s largest alcohol warehouse. The warehouse stores 9,5 million gallons of wine. That’s enough to fill 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools. No spice.
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Enjoy A Lovely Bottle Of Hitler Schnapps
06 Dec 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Would you consider it a selling point for an alcoholic beverage to depict Adolf Hitler on its label? Didn’t think so. Which is why it’s so fascinating that a man, who goes by the name Rolande Marte, is attempting to sell bottles of wine and Schnapps with an image of the dictator gracing the bottle. Swastika, and so on.
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Wine Advice For Christmas: Keep Drinking
02 Dec 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Christmas: a time of drunkenness, praise, and popped shirt buttons. There’s revelry and excess, angels and shepherds, and of course, the fat man in the fur-trimmed getup with a hankering for cookies, milk, and having children on his lap. A weird and wonderful time it is. It is also the time of year that wine columnists all over the world trot out their terribly banal “Top 10 Wines for Christmas” piece. I hate those.
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Where Is The South African “Sideways”?
28 Nov 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 4 Comments
What is needed is for wine to start appearing in South African popular culture. (Do we have one of those?) Remember that rather kak film, Sideways? That changed how Merlot and Pinot Noir were sold in the States. Just because that snivelly little prick Miles told everyone to “Fuck Merlot”, they did, running to quaff cheap Californian Pinot Noir by the bucket load.
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