Trip report from buyer Becca

Becca Reeves. Trip to South Africa with Helen. (Becca delighted to be taking over Helen's responsibility for RSA; a country she loves).

The Short Version
(Shortened further with stuff on delicate negotiations removed by me, TL!)

Quite a long short report here - got a bit over-enthusiastic about everything! Here are the key things you absolutely HAVE to know:

2011 white harvest – patchy. Sauvignon hard hit. Care needed.
2011 red harvest – very promising.

Massive improvement in style and quality of Pinotage. Pricing broadly stable … Volumes aren’t a major issue – good position compared with other new world countries.

Top wines:

Flagstone
Cracking new vintage Stumble Vineyards Sauvignon and Pinotage and/or Malbec. Two delicious, more-unusual wines – a Touriga Franca Rosé and a Petit Verdot.

Bon Courage
Lovely new-vintage Gooseberry Bush – and plenty available!

Charles Back
The Back Road Petite Syrah 09 – my tasting note finished: “we MUST have this wine!”
New Six Hats Fairtrade Mourvedre

Klein Constantia
Klein Constantia Estate Cab Sauv 08 – Helen and I loved this wine SO much, we actually bought a bottle for ourselves … neither of us have ever done this before! I’m just not sure they have any stock for us to buy as a company …

Summary:
Sauvignon challenges! But generally massively exciting with huge potential to grow!

Becca going overboard with the exclamation marks. A few problems to sort but you can see the girl is quite excited.

I saw her just arrived back on Tuesday but to get her sign off, this piece is going to have to catch up with her in Chile. Hectic life, wine-buying.