Malu Lambert

Multi-award-winning wine writer and critic Malu Lambert writes for a variety of international and local publications, and is a regular judge on many top competitions in South Africa and abroad. Malu is a WSET Diploma graduate. Malu won the title of the Mont Blanc Emerging Wine Writer of the Year at the Louis Roederer International Wine Writers’ Awards 2019 as well as the Veritas Young Wine Writer in 2015. As co-author of 'Klein Constantia: The Home of Vin de Constance' she was awarded the ‘Discovering and Presenting Wines’ category of the 2023 OIV. Most recently she was a finalist in the The Gusbourne Estate Award for Long-Form Writing category of the inaugural 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Awards.

Malu writes for numerous South African titles, and was the wine editor of Food & Home for five years. Internationally, she has also written for Jancis Robinson, Decanter, The Buyer, Falstaff, Club Oenologique, Drinks International, Thirteen Barrels, The Japanese Times, and more. She is also a taster on the Platter's Guide, South Africa’s most definitive and respected guide to wine. Malu is a regular on South Africa's judging panels, including Winemag, Wine-of-the-Month Club and was recently the chairperson for the inaugural Fine Wine Awards by Amex. She has also judged for Decanter, IWSC and Concours Mondial du Sauvignon. Malu is a WSET Diploma graduate.

Follow her on Twitter at @MaluLambert.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Malu Lambert

Harvesting the future: South African wine continues to transform

All creatures great and small

Irsai Oliver: in conversation with Orange River Cellars

The best wine farms in the Banhoek Valley

The quantum mechanics of carbonics

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

The spirit of genius walks in South Africa’s vineyards

Malu Lambert’s Top 10 wines this April

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

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

Tasting in shapes

Some thoughts on some wines, Cape Winemakers Guild 2020

20 Years of Cabernet Franc

The case for cans

Palomino, simply for the pleasure of it

Bubbling over with innovation

South Africa’s secret tasting circles: The Celts

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

Sauvignon of the sea

Listening to the landscape