“Daar is net een perfekte wynmaker en Hy sit daarbo en stuur elke jaar ‘n paar ‘curve balls’ of ‘bouncers’ na ons hier op aarde om ons te toets en uit te daag om Hom te probeer nadoen,” sê DP Burger, die bestuurder/wynmaker op GlenWood in die Robertsvleivallei buite Franschhoek. “Dis wat wingerdbou en wynmaak so opwindend, uitdagend en dinamies maak.”

Maar wat het van ’n vyfde geslag-Franschhoeker, wie se groot-oupa glo gesien het hoe die laaste olifant die Franschhoek-vallei in 1868 verlaat het, een van die land se voorste chardonnay-makers gemaak? En hoekom het hy juis GlenWood gekies?

Ek het oor die afgelope klompie jare talle kere by die afdraai na GlenWood kort duskant Franschhoek verby gery en elke keer myself belowe om eendag daar te gaan inloer in my strewe om altyd met nuwe wynmakerye en nuwe wynmakers kennis te maak, en nuwe wyne te proe. Drie jaar gelede drink ek en DP Burger, GlenWood se bestuurder/wynmaker, mekaar toe mos raak op die Somerwynfees daar in die pragtige Franschhoek-vallei en ek onderneem om so spoedig moontlik daar by hulle te kom inloer.

“In ons samelewing is die vroue wat grense afbreek, dié wat beperkings ignoreer.” Arnold Schwarzenegger kon net sowel na vroue-wynmakers verwys het toe hy hierdie wysheid kwyt geraak het want hulle steur hulle beslis nie aan stereotipes, grense en beperkings nie. En in ’n bedryf wat baie lank deur die mans oorheers is, word vroue vandag al hoe meer prominent.

Nie lank gelede nie moes jy soek om ’n vrou in die wingerd of kelder te kry, een wat in beheer is. Vandag is daar baie, regoor die wynproduserende wêreld, en die getalle groei.

John November, Zonnebloem's new white wine maker and an avid cyclist, doesn't have much time for his hobby at the moment.

"This is my first harvest at Zonnebloem and I'm tremendously excited. The drought has meant that the crop is smaller than in previous years, although it's too early to say how much. The grapes are very healthy though with lovely, concentrated flavours that we're capturing in the cellar.  The big challenge is the juggling to get all the grapes in at optimal ripeness, but we're managing, so watch this space!"

“When was the land first used to grow grapes?” This is a common question addressed to New World wine regions, writes Claudia Angelillo.

The United States, in all of her blushing youth, wears a thirty year-old vineyard plot like a badge of honor. But to ask the same question in Italy’s Franciacorta wine region would be absurd. Grape growing has been a part of life in the region since the beginning of recorded time, and winemaking is a culturally embedded practice contributing to the region’s spirit and character.

Spät” means “late” in German, writes Christy Canterbury MW. In (that crazy) German noun compounding, Spät + Burgunder = “late-ripener from Burgundy”. That, in turn, means Pinot Noir. Chances are good you’ve never seen a bottle of Spätburgunder, much less tasted one, but hopefully that soon changes. Today over one-third of German wine is red, and Spätburgunder is the leading black grape. There’s so much that Germany ranks third in global plantings after France and the US.

“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” – Anonymous.

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta.

“The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton.

We feel that if a geographic area has shown wine excellence throughout a long history, then even more sublime heights can be reached with the addition of a dose of passion and attention, writes Victor Rallo Jr and Anthony Verdoni.

Campania was the bread basket of Ancient Rome. Fruits, nuts, grains, seafood, meats, olive oil – authors from Virgil to Pliny to Columella agreed that if those ingredients were of Campanian origin, they were the best. The wine poet Horace was lavish in his praise of Falernian white, which is produced today, as in the Roman era, from grapes grown on the hillsides of Campania.

Chenin Blanc is a very versitile grape and can be made into many different styles of wines, writes Christopher Barnes.

I have a confession to make publicly. I am a Yeast Wrangler, writes Nova McCune Cadamatre. In every fermentation, every harvest, I try to get inside the minds of these tiny fungi and discern what they want to eat, how they would like to be treated, and what temperature they would like their environment to be. They make the wine and winemakers try to keep them happy. They are like the ultimate prima donna who refuses to work unless everything in their environment is to their liking. If something is out of place, they immediately let you know by sending off Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), which smells like rotten eggs, to voice their displeasure.