For Vinous, Neal Martin spends a week in South Africa, visiting many of the Western Cape’s major wine regions. He sings the praises of producers, but also of the country’s beauty, positivity, diversity, and incomparable value. “Despite everything, [South Africa] is the eternal optimist,” Martin writes. “Its wines dazzle with both quality and diversity, a polymath that is a dab hand at an array of styles catering to all tastes and to all budgets, a factor fatally forgotten by many wine regions.” For this report, he highlights many Vine Street producers, of which Lukas van Loggerenberg (with his “pet mustache”) was a clear standout. “I performed silent and hopefully imperceptible cartwheels of joy when tasting stunners like his 2024 Graft and aptly named High Hopes,” says Martin. “These are sensational wines that should place him firmly in the highest echelon of South African winemakers.” Read more here.