Saldanha’s castle is an improbable one. As you stream into the West Coast outpost, the sky an ossified blue, the defunct Saldanha Steel Works swims into focus. A roiling steam-punk palace of industrial architecture. Rusting into the landscape, the mauve citadel is a tangle of pipes, conveyors, silos and blast-furnaces. It’s one of those pieces of architecture that is as much mocked as it is adored. Architect Hannes Meiring modelled the complex on a medieval city, setting the main shaft at 110 m (361...
From iron ore to flor in South Africa's wild west
Guest contributor
Thursday 11 December 2025
• 1 min read
On South Africa’s remote West Coast an unlikely fortified-wine revival is taking place. Malu Lambert reports.
Become a member to continue reading
Member
$135
/year
Ideal for wine enthusiasts
- Access 289,030 wine reviews & 15,888 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
Inner Circle
$249
/year
Ideal for collectors
- Access 289,030 wine reviews & 15,888 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
- Early access to the latest wine reviews & articles, 48 hours in advance
Professional
$299
/year
For individual wine professionals
- Access 289,030 wine reviews & 15,888 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
- Early access to the latest wine reviews & articles, 48 hours in advance
- Commercial use of up to 25 wine reviews & scores for marketing
Business
$399
/year
For companies in the wine trade
- Access 289,030 wine reviews & 15,888 articles
- Access The Oxford Companion to Wine & The World Atlas of Wine
- Early access to the latest wine reviews & articles, 48 hours in advance
- Commercial use of up to 250 wine reviews & scores for marketing
More Inside information
Inside information
For this month’s adventures Ben heads north to Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
We’d arrived in a country whose Nordic angles...
Inside information
Part five of an eight-part series on how to pair wine with Asian flavours, adapted from Richard’s book. Click here...
Inside information
Once on the fringes, Corsica has emerged as one of France’s most compelling wine regions. Paris-based writer Yasha Lysenko explores...
Inside information
Turning tides have brought wine back to the edges of north-west France, says Paris-based journalist Chris Howard. This is part...
More from JancisRobinson.com
Nick on restaurants
Nick denies an accusation frequently levelled at restaurant critics. And revisits an old favourite. Those of us who write about...
Free for all
Favourites among the quirkier vine varieties. A shorter version of this article, with fewer recommendations, is published by the Financial...
Wine news in 5
Plus, wet weather makes California drought-free for the first time in 25 years and leaves snow on Douro vineyards. Much...
Wines of the week
If there’s one country that excels at value-priced wines, it would have to be Portugal. This is yet another wine...
Tasting articles
The last of our alphabetically organised tasting articles: reviews of wines tasted by Matthew in the Côte d’Or and by...
Tasting articles
The penultimate of 12 alphabetically organised tasting articles: reviews of wines tasted by Matthew in the Côte d’Or and by...
Tasting articles
The 10th of 12 alphabetically organised tasting articles: reviews of wines tasted by Matthew in the Côte d’Or and by...
Tasting articles
The ninth of 12 alphabetically organised tasting articles: reviews of wines tasted by Matthew in the Côte d’Or and by...