In Reasonable Taste (published by Moonshinemedia) is a collection of more than 60 short pieces, mostly about wine – or more specifically, taking the mickey out of wine snobbery and the rather self-important world of wine.
Most of them were written for Good Taste magazine over the past few years.
I had great fun doing the illustrations for the stories – one drawing for each piece. Some of my friends have been rather flattering about them, but that’s what friends are supposed to be.
In the chapters I take wry swipes at the art of sniffing and spitting, ponder the origins of the greatest of all drinks, poke fun of the poetic words we use to describe wines and recount a few on my own – not always glorious – wine experiences.
When you’ve bought your copy (which I trust you will) you’ll be able to find out why we break a bottle of bubbly over the bows of a ship when it’s launched. You’ll certainly learn some new stuff about the breezes that blow inland from False Bay and maybe even find a new respect for that old South African song, “Sarie Marais”.
The book is what one friend described as “loo literature,” hastily explaining that he was not implying that it was cr*p or fit to use as toilet paper. He merely meant to indicate that each chapter was exactly the right length to entertain you during a visit to the loo.
I don’t mind where you read it, quite frankly, as long as you do.
And enjoy it.

In Reasonable Taste is available from good book stores around the country for roughly R180. However, if you have difficulty getting hold of a copy, feel free to contact me. The book is also available on Amazon.com

Photograph: davidbiggsonline.com

Wine Book for Beginners

David Biggs joined forces with Colin Collard (founder of the Wine-of-the-Month Club and editor of Good Taste magazine) to compile this useful beginners’ guide to wine. The pocket-sized “How to Enjoy Your Wine”, covers many of the questions newcomers regularly ask.
Written in simple terms, the book gives helpful hints about pairing wines with food, selecting and storing wines and understanding wine labels.
As with any interest or hobby, the more you know about it, the more enjoyable it becomes.
It’s priced at just under R90 and is available from good bookshops, or from the club.
It makes a good stocking filler at Christmas time, so you might like to buy a couple of copies and tuck them away in your gift drawer.
To read more about this book, click on Biggs’ blog: The View from my Rock.
*************

I was born in the Karoo and grew up on a sheep farm, where I developed a love for the area and all its creatures, human and animal.
For more years than I can remember I’ve been writing a daily column about the this and that of life for the Cape Argus newspaper, but the call of the Great Karoo has remained as strong as ever and I often find myself tooling along the N1 Highway – often on my Vespa scooter – to my old home on the family farm, Grapevale. You can read more about this in my book Karoo Ramblings (see below) published by Moonshine Media.
In addition to writing about wine I have also produced several books on cocktails. I hope you will enjoy these as much as I enjoyed … writing them.

Karoo Ramblings by David Biggs

Karoo Ramblings

Reprinted: Now Available

David Biggs was born in the Karoo and grew up on a sheep farm, where he developed a love for the area and all its creatures, human and animal. For many years he has worked as columnist for the Cape Argus newspaper, but the call of the Great Karoo has remained as strong as ever and often finds him wending his way along the N1 Highway to his old home on the family farm, Grapevale. Here he can allow the dust and smoke of the city to blow away and enjoy the wide open spaces, the gentle humour and the sound sense of country life. How could anybody resist a place where meerkats watch soap operas on TV and sheepdogs ride on motorcycles. Join him in this little book on a whimsical ride through this fascinating country.

Click Here To Purchase: or contact me directly if you are in South Africa.

David Biggs

Let me introduce myself…

I stumbled into wine writing, more or less by accident, back in the 1970s and produced a weekly wine column for the Cape Argus newspaper for about 30 years.

It’s a funny thing, wine. I hadn’t really considered it much until I was given an assignment for the newspaper and decided to do some background research in wine.

After a one-week wine course, offered by the Gilbeys Company, I was hooked.

I attended more courses with Gilbeys (this was before the Cape Wine Academy had been formed) and read up everything I could find.

In 1998 I wrote my wine judging examination and was frankly surprised to pass, but I did. It was by far the most terrifying examination I had ever entered — two days of intensive tasting and analysis under the watchful eye of Professor Joel van Wyk.

I was invited to be on the judging panel of the first Stellenbosch Bottled Wine Show, and later the Robertson Bottled Wine Show. Before that there were only regional young wine shows, of interest mainly to wine producers. The bottled wine shows were the beginnings of what developed into the annual Veritas Wine Competition, which is the biggest wine contest in South Africa. I’ve served on judging panels in every Veritas competition since its inception, usually judging the sweeter wines and fortified wines in particular.

I’m also a founder member of the very successful Wine-of-the-Month Club tasting panel, and have helped with the judging of the annual Muscadel Competition.

All this involvement in wine is rather odd, really, because I came from a family that didn’t regard wine with much respect. We were Karoo sheep farmers and mostly beer drinkers. My mother enjoyed a glass of gin and tonic every evening, but wine was for special occasions and usually very ordinary plonk, which was all that was available in our local Karoo villages.

Wine prompted me to write books, too. I felt there was a need for a really basic book on wine, so I approached wine guru Dave Hughes and we co-operated on a little book called Enjoy Wine, now long out of print, but I believe still a very practical guide.

I followed this with a series of annual pocket books called the Plonk Buyers’ Guide, which was produced for about 10 years until the wine industry became too big to handle.

In 1998 I produced a little book on port, brandy and fortified wines, called Any Port in a Storm, published by Ampersand Press.

It the intervening years I’ve produced several books of cocktails of all kinds …all readily available from Amazon. Feel free to click and order.

Apart from the wine and booze books, my collection of Karoo stories titled Karoo Ramblings, is once again available, after being out of print for two years.

But there’s more to life than wine, of course, and I find great joy in producing a daily column for the Cape Argus newspaper, under the heading of Tavern of the Seas. The column has been part of the Argus for many years and was started by the great South African author, Lawrence G Green.

(His books are out of print now, but if you should find one in a second-hand book shop, buy it. He wrote in a delightfully gentle style that has lost none of its charm over the years.)

The Tavern column gives me freedom to write about any subject that crosses my mind.

I like to think it’s an on-going public debate and it’s pleasing to see how many readers send me suggestions and comments on the stuff I write.

I hope readers will use this website as a public debating forum too.

Home

I suppose all wine writers are asked the question, “You get to taste a lot of wines, so what’s your favourite wine of all?” The diplomatic answer is “My favourite wine is the one that’s I my glass. All the rest are just memories, or unknown to me.”

Actually it’s an impossible question to answer briefly. There are wines for all occasions. Sometimes a dry rosé is perfect for the occasion, and at another time you may prefer a bold red blend or a frivolous bubbly.

I’m known for my love of sweet fortified muscadels and jerepigoes for winter drinking.

But as far as red grape varieties go I will stick my neck out very cautiously and say I am seldom disappointed by a South African shiraz.Most of our winemakers seem to have got shiraz right.

Our pinotages are improving dramatically every year and winemakers agree pinot noir is a challenge for those brave enough to face it. We produce some world-beating red blends.

But if I were to pick a red wine from an unknown selection of South African labels, I’d probably play safe and choose a shiraz. Shiraz can be quite a versatile grape, too.

Hartenberg Estate has a long association with shiraz. They produced their first shiraz back in 1974 and their present winemaker, Carl Schultz, has been working with their shiraz grapes for the past 17 years and now makes three distinctly different shiraz wines; an estate wine and two single vineyard wines.

The Hartenberg Gravel Hill Shiraz was first made in 1995 for the Winemakers Guild Auction and has been a popular seller ever since.

The latest addition to the range is The Stork, which has been praised in American and British publications and scored an impressive 92 points out of 100 in the Wine Spectator.

These wines have been seen to age very well and some of the earliest vintages are still delicious after 20 years. Carl keeps them maturing for at least four years before releasing them for sale.

They’re well worth a try.

*****

If you’re interested in buying excellent wines for your collection, make a diary note of the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction pre-release tasting at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on August 12.

Here you will be able to sample all the wines on offer at the auction, which takes place at Spier in October.

Unlike the wines offered for general sale by members of the guild, the auction wines are specially made for this event and selected at a blind tasting by guild members. They’re not available in wine shops.

The pre-auction tasting begins at 6pm on August 12 and ends at 9.00pm.

Bookings can be made by calling 021 852 0408 or e-mailing bookings@capewinemakersguild.com. There will also be tickets available at the door.

Tickets cost R150 each and the price includes a tasting glass and catalogue.

A feature of the October auction is the “silent auction” held to raise money for the Nedbank CWG Development Trust, which helps with the education and training of promising young winemakers.

****

Photo: Courtesy of Cape Winemakers Guild

Home

Robertson Reaches the Heights

Never judge a wine by its label. It’s not always the great names or very expensive wines that win International wards.

Robertson Winery is best known for mass-producing reliable, everyday wines at reasonable prices. Hardly the kind of wines to win awards. Robertson Winery is the country’s third largest wine producer, vinifying 2 million cases of wine a year, about half of which  is for export.

The Robertson flagship wine, labeled No 1 Constitution Road, was recently awarded the Regional Trophy at the 2010 Decanter World Wine Awards in Britain.

The competition is run by the UK’s top wine magazine, Decanter, which is sold in 92 countries.

Robertson’s entry was judged the best in the category for Red Rhone varieties costing more than £10 a bottle.

This year’s competition attracted a record number of 11000 entries and less than 3% of these achieved gold medals or trophies.

The winning wine was made from selected barrels of Shiraz grown in the Robertson valley and matured in oak for more than two years.

Winemaker Jacques Roux says the award proves that Robertson is capable of producing world-class reds.

The winery’s marketing director Barry Kok, says the timing of the award could not have been better, following on the success of the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament which focused the eyes of the world on South Africa.

The wine takes its name from the address of the winery and was produced to celebrate South Africa’s young democratic constitution.

It is available in wine shops throughout the country at around R150 a bottle.

****

When you’re tired of freezing your buns off at home, consider heading out to he Breedekloof region near Rawsonville this weekend for their “Soetes and Soup” festival.

Participating wineries will provide roaring fires and offer fine fortified wines and home-made soups to warm the blood.

Local musicians like Chris Chameleon, Ivan Zimerman and Klopjag will provide live music at the venues, and there wil be soup-and-wine pairings, chocolate tastings and entertainment for children.

For those more energetic souls there’s a mountain trail to work up a good thirst.

There’s also a special deal whereby, if you book for two nights,  you get a third night’s accommodation free.

For more information visit www.breedekloof.com or call 023 349 1791.

****

One of the Cape’s wine legends, Michael “Spatz” Sperling of Delheim, celebrated his 80th birthday this week.

Spatz came to South Africa as a 20-year-old war refugee from Germany in 1951 and proceeded to turn the farm Driesprong into one of South Africa’s best known wineries and tourist attractions. Together with Frans Malan of Simonsig and Sydney Back of Backsberg, Spatz worked to form the Cape Estate Wine Producers’ Association in the 1970s and was one of the founders and driving forces behind the establishment of the Stellenbosch Wine Route.

Under his guidance Delheim produced one of the Cape’s first serious Bordeaux style red blended wines, Delheim Grand reserve, still regarded as a benchmark of excellence.

Spatz, together with his then-winemaker Kevin Arnold (now co-owner and winemaker of Waterford Estate), initiated the formation in 1982 of the Cape Independent Winemakers’ Guild that markets its wines solely through an annual auction. This body of leading Cape winemakers, with membership by  invitation only, is committed to pushing the boundaries of wine style and quality and serves as a platform for its members to share ideas and methods.

Congratulations, Spatz.

Photo: Courtesy of Breedekloof

Home

South Africa’s biggest wine competition, the Veritas Wine Awards, will be even bigger this year with brandy being included in the judging for the first time.

Brandy producers have until August 17 to submit entries for the competition. Entries can be submitted in various classes, such as standard, vintage and pot-still brandies and the judging panel will be convened by international wine and spirit authority Dave Hughes.

According to Duimpie Bayly, chairman of the SA National Wine Show Association, which runs Veritas, the board’s decision to include a brandy section was unanimous. “The South African wine and brandy industries share a proud history built up over more than 350 years. That brandy, a noble product of the grape, now forms part of Veritas is a natural extension of this link.”

South African brandy is highly regarded internationally for its high quality and it is produced under the most stringent regulations in the world.

Judging will take place at the Nederburg auction complex in Paarl from September 13 to 20 and the results will be announced at a banquet in the Cape Town International Convention Centre on October 8.

For details and entry forms contact Veritas manager Elsabe Ferreira  on tel (021) 807 3104, or by fax on (021) 863 2079 or e-mail elsabe@veritas.co.za.

****

The annual Hermanus Wine and Food Festival is regarded by many as one of the highlights of the South African wine year.

This year’s event takes place from August 6 to 8 and promises to be bigger than ever, with more than 50 wine cellars from Elgin to Elim taking part.

The programme features a special children’s area, food stalls offering everything from sushi to local cheeses and olive products, live music and live radio broadcasts from the festival marquee.

The Hermanus Festival is the only Wine and Food Fair in South Africa where you can purchase the wines you’ve tasted and either take them home immediately or have them shipped home anywhere in the world.

The price of tickets remains the same as last year, R95 a day and R150 for a weekend pass.

Opening hours are: Friday 17:00 - 21:00; Saturday 11:00 - 19:00 and Sunday 11:00 - 17:00

For more details visit the website www.hermanuswineandfood.co.za or contact them on 028 316 3988.

*****

Serious foodies might like to consider a four-day cooking experience at the luxurious Robertson Small Hotel, under the guidance of celebrity chef Reuben Riffel.

The hotel, with its Reuben’s restaurant has become known as one of the top gourmet venues in the country.

The four-day Reuben’s Gourmet Experience will take place from August 23 to 27, with breakfast, lunch and dinner provided each day, and a programme of food pairings, cookery demonstrations, pastry-making hints, exciting recipes and some of Reuben’s culinary secrets.

Guests will stay at the elegant hotel and each participant will be given a signed copy of Reuben’s book, an embroidered chef’s jacket and apron to take home.

The all-in price for the course, including accommodation, is R8500 and bookings can be made by contacting Maryke at  reservations@reubens.co.za or by phoning 021 876 3772 .

Photograph courtesy of Veritas

Home