Dec 2019

De Krans Wine Cellar, situated in Calitzdorp along the Route 62, has again received a five-star rating, this time for its Cape Vintage Reserve 2017 port-style wine in the latest edition of the authoritative and internationally recognized Platter’s by Diners Club South African Wine Guide 2020, due for release this month. The results were announced on Friday, 8 November at an event held in Cape Town, which was attended by members of the wine and media industries. A total of 125 five star wines were awarded the coveted five star status this year. This port-style wine is no stranger to awards having won a Double Gold at this year’s

Christoff de Wet, formerly winemaker at Lutzville Vineyards, has recently joined the team at De Krans Wines as their new winemaker, taking over the reins from Louis van der Riet. Born and bred in Stellenbosch surrounded by a growing wine fraternity, it soon became evident that it would become his career choice. After completing his schooling he embarked on a gap year, not for one year which is normally the case, but two years. During this time he worked in Sonoma (California) to gain additional experience before enrolling at Elsenburg upon his return, obtaining his diplomas in Oenology and Viticulture. After his studies the ‘wine working travel bug’ was still

De Krans Wines in Calitzdorp is without a doubt one of SA’s leading port producers. This statement was reaffirmed when, for the third year in a row its Cape Vintage Reserve was announced as the Overall Fortified Wine of the Year by revered UK authority Tim Atkin MW, in his highly anticipated annual review of South African wines. This year the 2017 vintage took the honour, as well as scoring an impressive 96 points. In addition three of their wines scored 90 + points each. The deserving recipients were the De Krans Touriga Nacional 2017 (90 points), Garden Route Sauvignon Blanc 2019 (91 points) and the De Krans Tritonia

De Krans Wine Cellar, situated along the iconic Route 62 in Calitzdorp, has excelled at the 2019 Novare SA Terroir Wine Awards, where the De Krans Touriga Nacional 2017 was announced as the Best Touriga Nacional. This follows in the footsteps of the 2016 vintage, that won the same accolade last year. The results were announced at a special awards ceremony which took place on 1 August. A total of 328 entries were received for this year’s competition which was evaluated by a panel of highly esteemed judges. The panel was chaired by Jeff Grier who was joined in the judging process by David Biggs, Narina Cloete, Sandile Mkhwanazi

While De Krans has traditionally been synonymous with producing award-winning port style wines, they have also managed in recent years to pave the way with developing interesting and quality Portuguese still wines. This Portuguese blend, made up of Tinta Barocca and Tinta Amarella, is all about the story. It pays tribute to the start of the port industry in Calitzdorp when the first Portuguese grape varieties were planted in 1973, by accident. A fortunate accident it turned out to be, as the climate and the terroir embraced these supposed Shiraz acquired from the Swartland area. When they realized that the Shiraz was in fact Tinta Barocca, the port

The winners from the inaugural 2019 Best Value Chardonnay Tastings were recently, which saw De Krans’ Wild Ferment Unwooded Chardonnay 2018 selected as one of the top five wines with 88 points. The intention of the competition is to identify the best examples of Chardonnay priced between R60 and R100. The wines entered were tasted blind by the panel of judges, with the scoring done on the 100-point system. No yeast is added to produce the De Krans Wild Ferment Unwooded Chardonnay, as the fermentation process starts naturally. Once the fermentation is completed, the wine is kept on its fine lees for a further six months before bottling. Great care

De Krans, widely known as being one of SA’s leading port-style wine producers, once again showed that they are more than a one trick pony at the recent 2019 National Wine Challenge Awards. Their Cape Vintage Reserve 2016 was awarded the Grand Cru Award (Best in Category) as well as a Double Platinum and position on the sought-after Top 100 SA Wines for 2019. The awards were announced at a special event on Thursday, 9 May at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch. The Cape Vintage Reserve 2016 – De Krans flagship port-style wine - spent 20 months in a big oak vat and has a dark colour with a