I spent much of the recent Bank Holiday filing. By filing, what I really mean is recycling. That is until I got to the pile labelled ‘wine tasting notes’. I am quite ashamed to admit that this chaotic heap of paperwork includes reflections on everything from 1949 Pommard (on the back of hotel notepaper) to €1.50 Sauvignon Blanc.

Sifting through it though is rather like looking at old holiday snaps. It completely transports you back to the time and the place of the tasting. I was able to relive whole tastings, lunches and dinners, beautiful scenery and great conversations. It took me all day and not much, in the event, got recycled.

What it did do was remind me of some of the truly delicious wines I’ve tasted that I’d rather forgotten about.

You may remember that last year I spent some time in South Africa judging at the Veritas Wine Awards. Four days of Pinotage rather did me in and overtook my thoughts. This was somewhat at the expense of the number of truly wonderful wines that I did taste and re-reading my notes evoked some really positive memories.

I’d eaten dinner at the Ernie Els winery one evening where I’d enjoyed truly tasty wines. The Ernie Els 2004 Bordeaux Blend (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot) was delicious and really very elegant.

Just as good (if not a bit better) was the Rustenberg John X Merriman which has the same grapes as the Ernie Els, albeit in differing proportions. There’s more Merlot and less Cabernet Sauvignon and the flavours are just that bit softer. Call me an old-fashioned girl but what I particularly liked about it was the elegant tannin structure and the Bordeaux-like ‘cigar box’ aromas. An altogether tip-top pair of wines.

Reading through my notes, it’s also apparent that many of the Chardonnay wines I tasted made a pretty favourable impression. As you head south from Stellenbosch towards Elgin and on to Walker Bay you find what I consider to be some of South Africa’s best white wines.

It’s an area that is, broadly speaking, known as ‘cool climate’ which suits the Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc grapes that are grown here. De Rust Estate is the home of Paul Cluver Wines and is located in the Elgin Valley, forming part of a world heritage site called The Kogelberg Biosphere. The wines are noted internationally for their finesse and quality and I am a huge fan of their Chardonnay wine which, along with the Rustenberg John X Merriman is available as part of The Oxford Times Wine Club offer this week.

News that wine sales are falling in the UK for the first time since official records began has not come as a surprise to many of us in the last week or two but there is, as they say, a silver lining on every grey cloud.

South African wines are well-placed to do well with the exchange rate between the pound and the rand much more favourable for import than with the euro. In simple terms, you get a lot more South African wine for your money than anything from Europe or South America these days, so it’s a really good time to buy .I really mustn’t leave my filing so long the next time . . .

Click here for The Oxford Times Wine Club offers.