Life is too short to drink bad wine

Pinot Noir from other parts of the world than Burgundy are often good and reasoanble alternatives to the "real" thing. This Pinot Noir from South Africa is mayne bot the most reasonable alternative but provides good value for money. Quite dark red/purple colour. On the nose it is quite intense dominated by plum and dark fruit. The taste is refreshing with plenty of dark fruit, great balance and a lively acidity and quite long aftertaste. A very decent and harmonious wine. Hamilton Russel Pinot Noir Walker Bay , South Africa High price

This blockbuster of a wine is a mix of several grapes. Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault, Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier (white). It has become a bit of a cult wine and is a big success for the winemaker at Boekenshoutkloof at Cape the Good Hope. Deep dark red colour with a massive smell of dark berries, spice, plum, smoke, chocolate etc. The taste is big and fruity with lovely soft tannins and long well balanced after taste. Not widely available so if you get your hand on one consider yourself lucky. Chocolate Block 2010, Boekenshoutkloof, Cape, South Africa Ca 20£ Try with red meat, cheese and dark chocolate 

This is a 100% shiraz (or syrah) based wine from Paarl in South Africa. Fairview has a special selection that includes bush vines from certain parts of Paarl that are of really high quality. Lovely dark ruby color with a delicate nose of brambles, sweet dark fruit and some pepper. Big fruity taste and 15% alcohol! A truly seductive wine that can match most Upper Rhone versions on price and quality. The Beacon Shiraz 2005 Paarl, South Africa Ca 20€ Bring on a nice steak!

South African red wines are very often very approachable and seductive. This one from Boekenhoutskloof fits the bill for those cold and wet autumn days. Bring out the steak or game. Dark berries and minerals on the nose with hints of pine. Very juicy and fruity taste, designed to make you want more! Some tannins but they are all soft and very palatable. Porcupine Ridge Syrah 2009, South Africa, NOK145

This is just a shockingly good Shiraz from South Africa! Fairview has fair number of wines but their special selection which this one comes from is just wonderful. Packed with dark fruit and peppery undertones and a striking complex and wonderfully balanced taste. It just takes your breath away and when you realize that it cost around 20-25€ you wonder why you don't live down there as well. Great stuff! Fairview Jakkalsfontein 2004 Shiraz by Fairview Takes your breath away..

This is a lovely Cabernet Sauvignon from the mountains close to False Bay in South Africa. Great fresh red fruit on the nose with hints of chocolate (bit Bordeaux like) and a good mouthful packed with fruit and soft tannins. Not bad at all! Journey's End Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 175 NOK or around 10€, lovely stuff...

Found this Shiraz from La Motte, Western Cape in South Africa in the tax free. Dark deep red coloured wine packed fruit and brambles and a lovely long velvety taste that is crying out for grilled meat.   Just on the border between low and medium price range it is worth every penny and especially of you can get it tax free. La Motte Shiraz 2008, Western Cape, South Africa, dark fruity and delicious.. Ca 200 low/medium price 

This wine is made from 80% Syrah and 20% Mourvedre. Very dark attractive wine. Packed with dark berries,  plums and some pepper. Big solid wine crying out for red meat. Lovely long taste with soft elegant tannins. Syrah Mourvedre Tulbagh Vineyards 2005, South Africa, perfect for cold autumn days....

This is a great Viognier by the Bellingham vineyards. Straw green color with a wonderful aroma of lychees, peach,  rose petals. It' s just magic. The palate is fullbodied with a roundness and sweetness so typical for Condrieu (home of Viognier in France). Good balanced acidity and a long inviting aftertaste. Hand Picked Viognier, Bellingham, South Africa, Low price 175, wonderful stuff. Try with Asian food. Drink young. Bellingham Wines

This is like a South African "Cote du Rhone"... Goats do Roam...(get it?) Apparantly the name came up as follows: One afternoon, at harvest time, my mischievous son Jason and his friend Justin let the goats out of their tower and sent them for a walkabout amongst the vines. As in the legend of the Yemeni goat herder – whose roaming flock first discovered the joys of coffee beans, our goats picked out the best and tastiest fruit – their choice serves as our inspiration for this wine. Charles Back Anyway not sure the french wine growers appreciate such humour. Goats do Roam comes with a handy screwcork and contains around 70% Syrah with the rest being other Cote du Rhone grapes... Bright ruby color and berry aromas with spice and smoke. A medium bodied wine with fresh acidity. Goats do Roam 2010, South Africa, low price 110,   

Tourigo Nacional is a grape normally used to make port wine but Allesverloeren has made this red wine which is very good value for money. Nice ruby colour with fine smell of blackcurrant and spices. The taste is warm, smooth and well balanced. Medium to full bodied. Goes with duck, lamb and beef. Allesverloeren Touriga Nacional, South Africa, Low price 135, P+

In search for more options to match game dishes I set my eyes on this South African Syrah.  This syrah is from South Africa’s Swartland district, an area north of Cape Town which traditionally produced chunky, rather rustic reds. Not this one. It’s a northern Rhône style red, with perfumy, smoky, black pepper aromas, refined black fruit, smoke and herb flavours and a lovely silky texture. This is the debut vintage for Mullineux Family Vineyards, although Chris Mullineux is well-known as the winemaker who put Tulbagh Mountain Vineyards on the map. This is like top notch Crozes Hermitage or young Hermitage. Borderline low to medium price range but worth every penny especially if you have already spent a considerable amount of money on game. Best served 16-18c. Mullineux Syrah 2008, Coastal Region South Africa, lovely Rhone stuff from SA Low/medium price 219, but P+ Mullineux wines

Allesverloren (all is lost) has three different red wines for sale and they are all good. The estate is in Swartland in South Africa north of Cape Town. The Shiraz has an intense ruby color with lots of nice blackcurrant and spices on the nose. It is a very fruity, rich and full bodied wine. Crying out for lamb chops or a good steak. Allesverloren Shiraz 2008, South Africa, big wine for small bucks (NOK128) Allesverloren welcomes you

We bought this wine when we visited Fairview last year. Its regarded as one of the top Pinotage in South Africa and it is the very best Pinotage that we have ever tasted. Deep dark red/blue colour with a great smell of ripe brambles packed with dark fruit. The taste is a bit warm due to the 15% alcohol, big solid body crying out for something substantial to eat. Long complex taste packed with lovely dark fruit. Great stuff from Fairview and a very good Pinotage! Grapes from the Perdeberg mountains near Swartland. Fairview Primo Pinotage 2007 - South Africa a perfect example of Pinotage!

Off to a "tropical island" just 20 min from Stavanger. Flor and Fjære is unique place and experience. Wine selection dominated by South African wines based upon French grapes turned out to be more than acceptable now that the French team has left the World Cup in South Africa a long time ago. Medium red colour with a nice cherry jam smell and lovely silky texture with the right freshness. A very nice Pinot from Elgin (high altitude) in the Cape.

It's still summer and sun, but also Good Friday. Even more chocolate. After the traditional Friday pizza, a Masala Chai Dark Chocolate created by the Waterford Estate in Stellenbosch (South Africa) to match their Shiraz was opened. The wine had a mature floral bramble spicy smell with good fruit and acidity. The chocolate was dark with spicy taste of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon matching the dry Shiraz perfectly. No wonder its called Good Friday! My God! finally a chocolate and wine that match (except for sweet red wine...) Waterford Estate Kevin Arnold Shiraz 2006, €14, perfect on Good Friday... http://www.waterfordestate.co.za/

Its Easter and chocolate time! and with dark chocolate sweet red wine is the thing. In the cave here in Antibes (it is still sunny and 19c) I found some half bottles with no label. We bought these at Lynx winery last year in South Africa, it was some left over Shiraz grapes they had forgotten and which they then harvested and made a sweet red Shiraz wine out of! Not many, not planned, thus no labels. And I seem to remember it was 2007.... Truly great stuff (raisins, choco, good acidity and sweetness) and perfect with the Easter chocolate! lets the Easter bunny come! Lynx sweet Shiraz 2007, 8€, labels not required, but chocolate necessary!

Easter holiday in Antibes. Found a bottle of Lynx (South Africa) Viognier in the cave. Distant memories from our trip to South Africa last year. While the Brann players snowed down in Bergen we were sipping "Condrieu" like white wine on the terrace. The wine with medium yellow colour had a great perfumed smell of lychees ans rose petals. Dry, but great fruit and acidity. Lovely stuff and if memory does not serve me wrong, the price was 8 € and not 30 as it would be for a Condrieu! Thank you Dieter! Lynx Viognier 2007 8€, South Africas reply to Condrieu! http://www.lynxwines.co.za/our_wines.html

Down at the cabin this weekend for last touch of summer. In a rather empty wine cellar we found Allesverloren Tinta Barocca from South Africa. Tinta Barocca is a very unusual grape imported from Portugal. The wine was deep dark red, had a delicate smell of plum, spice and dried fruit with a nice fruity taste. A very nice wine for less than NOK130. Allesverloren is some 100km northeast of Cape Town and is in fact the oldest winery in Swartland. The name (all is lost) derives from 1704 when the settlers found their house burnt down and the farm destroyed. Allesverloren also makes a Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon which are good value for money as well as well as a port wine. A good buy now that we seem to have lost the summer.... Allesverloren 2007 Tinta Barocca, Swartland , South Africa P+ Allesverloren welcomes you Allesverloren The Wines

Another single vineyard wine from Fairview. This Shiraz wine comes from the Swartland district and was first planted in 1997.  2004 was a dry year with only 250mm rain in the Jakkalsfontein vineyard. Previous vintages of this wine has scored 91 points with Wine Spectator and the 2004 vintage is in the same range with Gold from the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles. The wine has deep dark red colour with purple rim, seductive nose of brambles, cured meat, plums. The wine is well balanced with firm soft tannins and a somewhat warm spicy taste of dark berries. A great wine and at 13€ an absolute bargain. The wine goes well with sheep cheese and 24 month old comte, but also manages the brie quite well, although not a perfect match. More info can be found on; Fairview - Fairview Wines, Goats do Roam Wines, Agostinelli Wines, Fairview Cheese