Give the gift of wine!

​Ernest Hemmingway said it best “Wine and friends are a great blend”.  Choosing a wine to give as a gift is a great way to show you care.  Care for your friends and care about the South African wine industry. 
The silly season is upon us, the time to give some thought to gift shopping has arrived.  Your gift list includes a family member, a beloved friend or a new boss?  You’ve been invited to a birthday party, an engagement party or maybe a year-end dinner party your boss is hosting?  Luckily wine is the gift solution for most occasions and suitable for any gender.  

Which wine do I choose and where to buy it? 
For the everyday gift, there are luckily many affordable options available when it comes to SA wines.  An excellent resource to bookmark or add to your favourite list is Topwinesa.com. They are a superb resource and will lead you to top South African wines that sell under R100 per bottle! Topwinesa.com states that they are listing “every South African wine at under R100 a bottle to receive a good review from one or more of the top tasting panels on the planet in 2019 and 2020.”  For easy reference, they've categorised wines under whites, pinks, reds and sweet.  
 
If you aim to give a South African bottle of vino that impress, Georgina Hindle (Deputy editor of Decanter.com, currently residing in France) chose 10 top South African wines worth seeking out  – this is her choice with some notes:

• Raats, Cabernet Franc, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2015: A wonderful single-varietal Cabernet Franc showing an excellent expression of the grape in South Africa. A complex and heady wine comprising earthy notes with vibrant fruit.
• David & Nadia, Aristargos, Swartland, South Africa, 2017
• David & Nadia, Elpidios, Swartland, South Africa, 2016
• AA Badenhorst, Ramnasgras Cinsault, Swartland, 2017: An utterly delicious Cinsault from Swartland pioneer and champion of the Cinsault revival in South Africa
• De Toren, Fusion V, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2016: Showcasing the Cape’s ability to turn out great Left Bank-style blends is this Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wine from Stellenbosch’s De Toren Private Cellar.
• Rijk's, Chenin Blanc, Tulbagh, South Africa, 2015: Long considered South Africa’s most widely regarded white grape, this bottling from Rijk’s, located in the Tulbagh Valley is a concentrated, full-bodied and fruit-forward example worth seeking out.
• La Motte, Syrah, Franschhoek, South Africa, 2015: A gorgeous, full-bodied, juicy and extremely drinkable wine from La Motte.
• Thelema Mountain Vineyards, Sutherland Chardonnay, 2017: A delicious white from the new Sutherland range of wines from Stellenbosch’s Thelema Mountain Vineyards that will make you think twice about South African Chardonnay
• Ken Forrester, Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc, 2017: For consistently drinkable and amazing value South African Chenin Blanc look no further than Ken Forrester’s Old Vine Reserve bottling.
• Boekenhoutskloof, Cabernet Sauvignon, Franschhoek, 2016: It was a tough choice between Boekenhoutskloof’s two region-specific Cabernets, both tasted side-by-side at the estate, but the Franschhoek bottling won out over its Stellenbosch counterpart, being the slightly more refined and precise offering. Rich, dark cherry fills the nose and palate alongside spicy oak and a hint of earthiness...

  
In post COVID world, physical retail shopping is not always the most practical of choices when it comes to shopping. ​
Luckily there are wonderful options available for the wine shoppers.  How does a bottle of wine, presented in a custom laser engraved wine box sound? Now that is something special and also why Winegifts.co.za is a sure favourite to many South Africans. They give their customers an easy solution as an online one-stop-shop for wine and all things wine-related. “Wine gifting can be small but it is loaded with meaning. It can symbolize personal enjoyment, friendship, status, achievement, success or happiness to name but a few.” They specialize in creating unique, customisable gifts and have been doing it since 2010!  

Another excellent online shop is Winecellar.co.za. Their shop is cleverly divided into helpful categories to make your choice a little bit easier - choose by wine style (red, white, rosé… all the way through to fortified), by region, by category (from investment wines to under R150!), their favourites, highly rated wines and even Platter 5*. They also have a fantastic feature where they list wine tastings to be hosted in Cape Town and Johannesburg.  

In closing, I celebrate South African wines, winemakers and all involved in the wine industry - I also celebrate wine sales being open again.  In this, why not share the "give the gift of wine" idea and appeal to everybody to #DrinkSouthAfrican and #SupportSaWine wherever they are in the world and to encourage  friends and family to do the same.  Cheers to drinking wine again! 

Sam Crawford*
South African wine lover

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