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Thursday, 29 February, 2024

Harvesting the future: South African wine continues to transform

As the country celebrates 365 years of winemaking, Malu Lambert asks what forces are shaping the future of South Africa’s wine industry.
Malu Lambert
Friday, 23 June, 2023

All creatures great and small

For regenerative agriculture in wine farming, grazing fauna is integral for soil health as well as drought-busting carbon sequestration. WWF Conservation Champions are ahead of the trot.
Malu Lambert
Wednesday, 14 December, 2022

Irsai Oliver: in conversation with Orange River Cellars

How did the aromatic cool-climate Irsai Oliver grape find itself in South Africa?
Malu Lambert
Tuesday, 23 August, 2022

The best wine farms in the Banhoek Valley

The coolest wine of origin ward in the Stellenbosch area is having a moment.
Inside Guide, Malu Lambert
Wednesday, 27 July, 2022

The quantum mechanics of carbonics

Intracellular, and somewhat interstellar, let’s take a journey into whole-cluster fermentation and the universe that lives inside the grape. Winemakers Eben Sadie and Lukas van Loggerenberg chart the course with Malu Lambert.
Malu Lambert
Friday, 10 December, 2021

Sam Lambson of Minimalist Wines and the joys of Karibib Wine Craft

Sam Lambson is immediately likeable. Slender and tall, with his curly hair pulled back into a bun he greets me Karibib Wine Craft. Set in the heart of Polkadraai Hills, the communal crush and estate is the first of its kind in South Africa, the cellar housing seven small-batch winemakers.
Malu Lambert
Tuesday, 12 October, 2021

The spirit of genius walks in South Africa’s vineyards

Romans had their own concept of terroir, calling it genius loci, the spirit or genius of the place. This Latin phrase is equally apt for South Africa’s current winemaking zeitgeist: there’s an unstoppable force moving through our regions, much like the winds that churn off the coast.
Malu Lambert
Saturday, 1 May, 2021

Malu Lambert’s Top 10 wines this April

It’s a new era for Mick and Jeanine Craven. The winemaking couple, who previously made their wines at Mulderbosch, have set up permanent shop with a cellar at Stellenbosch’s Agri-Park. The location is no accident; the single-vineyards they source their grapes from are all nearby. I visited recently to taste the new 2020 releases, all single varietals too.
Malu Lambert
Thursday, 22 April, 2021

WINEFORGOOD: The age of the social entrepreneur enters the South African wine industry

South Africa’s Aware Ambassadors practice daily acts of kindness in their communities effecting change while also empowering themselves.
Malu Lambert
Thursday, 24 December, 2020

Festive wine picks: to pop, for the table and… for under the tree

With the festive season rapidly descending – ask yourself, have you got enough wine? Here is a selection of wines that have caught my interest over the last few months, from celebratory bubblies to wines to light up the table and even some liquid treasures as oenophile gifts.
Malu Lambert
Monday, 19 October, 2020

Tasting in shapes

Burrowing down the rabbit hole with the Mullineux Single-Terroir Syrahs 2018, watch out for stalactites.
Malu Lambert
Friday, 2 October, 2020

Some thoughts on some wines, Cape Winemakers Guild 2020

The wines of the annual Cape Winemakers Guild auction are something I always look forward to. Yes there’s a sense of rarity, exclusivity – but I also feel like the winemakers inject the full force of their personalities into the wine, like they’ve been given a canvas to play with. Removed for a moment from their house styles, their sacrosanct ranges; it’s the chance to bring that idea to life.
Malu Lambert
Tuesday, 16 June, 2020

20 Years of Cabernet Franc

Coming into its own - Some of South Africa’s most exciting red wines are single-varietal cabernet francs; the cultivar is finally getting the attention it deserves
Malu Lambert
Tuesday, 31 March, 2020

The case for cans

Tasting through 20 canned wines to find the best of the bunch
Malu Lambert
Wednesday, 18 December, 2019

Palomino, simply for the pleasure of it

If vineyards are but grape gardens, the deeply rooted old vines the trees, then we haven’t been gardening very well.
Malu Lambert
Monday, 25 November, 2019

Bubbling over with innovation

The first ever MCC was made in 1971 at Simonsig, the now famous Kaapse Vonkel (Cape Sparkling). Though it was only in 1992 that the term Cap Classique was first used, and has since then defined the category, Méthode Cap Classique or MCC, is the term for sparkling wines made in the same traditional method as champagne, where the wine undergoes second fermentation in the bottle.
Malu Lambert
Friday, 4 October, 2019

South Africa’s secret tasting circles: The Celts

A group of friends gather under the awning of a country home in Stellenbosch. The location is Bein Wine, the smallest wine estate in the Cape, planted exclusively to merlot. The sky waxes pink above as the friends sip on glasses of rosé. It’s a civilised scene. But that’s what they want you to think. This is one of South Africa’s secret tasting—and most uncivilised—circles: The Celts.
Malu Lambert
Wednesday, 28 August, 2019

Chris Albrecht, winemaker at Bouchard Finlayson, continues the legacy of bottling vinous wonders in the Hemel-en-Aarde

Magic is a difficult thing to define. It’s a feeling that runs up your spine and all your senses light up; scents become keener, your eyes open wider.
Malu Lambert
Tuesday, 21 May, 2019

Sauvignon of the sea

South African Sauvignon Blanc is made in a diverse range of styles, from the zingy, herbaceous to the more tropical as well as the wooded styles. There’s another category emerging; wines grown and vinified by the sea display a distinct salinity.
Malu Lambert
Thursday, 7 March, 2019

Listening to the landscape

Greek, Italian, Spanish? No, not what’s for dinner—but rather what’s happening in our national vineyard.
Malu Lambert