The tippler’s poll at last month’s WineX in Cape Town kicks some serious anoraque butt. The top three slots for favourite red went to coffee/mocha style Pinotages in the shape of the Diemersfontein 2008, KWV Café Culture 2009 and Barista Coffee Pinotage 2009. Voting with their wallets, WineX punters also made Diemersfontein the top selling wine at the show, both in terms of volumes and value. Pity I neglected to secure a royalty deal when I handed Diemersfontein owner David Sonnenberg the soubriquet People’s Pinotage for this wine.

Diemersfontein @ WineX

Disturbingly for the Pinotage Association, not one of the top three WineX reds made the Absa Top Ten although the reduced coffee/mocha Diemersfontein Carpe Diem 2007 did make the Top Twenty. Of course none of the WineX Three got Platter five stars – but then wines are nominated sighted and it would be inconceivable for the sighted pundits to stoop so low as to nominate a coffee/mocha Pinotage for five star status. Anthony Hamilton Russell was in Jozi last week soliciting support for an alternative Pinotage competition – a salon de refusés if you like – of wines ignored by the Absa competition. Although quite whether he’d be in favour of a competition sponsored by Vida e Caffè is moot. Bom dia!

WineX whites were more on message: top of the pops was Abrie Bruwer’s Springfield Life From Stone Sauvignon Blanc 2009 for all of R69 a bottle, followed by the Hamilton Russell Chardonnay 2008 – nominated for five Platter stars but not awarded, which reflects badly on the pundits as this wine is in the top three Chardonnays for the vintage IMHO – plus the Ataraxia 2008, the CWG version of which commanded R3500 a six pack at Saturday’s Cape Winemakers Guild Auction and which was a Platter five star stunner, having been nominated sighted.

Cafe Culture

Related posts:

1. Donkiesbaai fermenter crashlands in Namibia The spittoon is foaming over the identity of the author...
2. Coffee Pinotage: Spilling the Beans From today’s Travel & Food supplement of The Sunday Times....
3. Pinotage Red Bull Things were a little more surreal than usual this Sunday...
4. Prodding Platter Pinotage Punditry Positive Pinotage article in the Wine Enthusiast this month. Which...
5. Beyers follows Mao with a new little red book This life as a Boswell to the Good Value Guru...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.