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Just as well Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger (pet for short) is president of grande marque champagne house Taittinger or his “perfect weekend” interview in this Weekend FT’s outrageously inappropriate (in current economic climes) How to Spend it supplement may have got him into hot water. “In the early evening, I pour myself a whisky or make a Mauresque with a good Pastis, orgeat syrup and some ice. We might have some champagne with dinner, or old-fashioned claret such as Château Poujeaux. I don’t like the new-style Bordeaux – the wines are too ripe and lack a sense of place. I prefer subtle wines that speak of terroir.”
Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger
With food banned inside the bidding room at this year’s Cape Winemakers Guild Auction at Spier, action gravitated to a flat screen monitor with prices next to the mini hamburgers and cheese on Chinese spoons, outside. “Shit” said Nev “I’ve missed the Spier Pinotage and it averaged under R1000 a six pack” confirming the contention of rainmaker Alan Pick that “the boys are getting klapped. Prices are down 35%” by 11:30am, although Alan’s son was an enthusiastic bidder for the Ernie Els red, which is a lot better than Ernie’s game at the moment, as the auctioneer cheekily pointed out. Hopefully a late spurt in prices will save the day, after all, my favourite wine, the Le Riche 2008 Cabernet, is a late lot.
Team Pick at this year's CWG Auction
Wine commentator Mr. Min comes down firmly on the side of the Nederburg Auction in the Battle of the Auctions underway at the minute. Nederburg last week (sorry to have missed Mr. Min on both days of Nederburg) and the Cape Winemakers Guild, this coming Saturday.
Writing on his Gape blog, Mr. Min notes “if Checkers [supermarkets] manages to flog the wine [they bought last week] to shopping housewives and the like smartly, the local wine industry should give them a heroic handshake. So much more significant, from a wine cultural point of view, than the other auction where yuppies shout up prices against one another, and glow in the power of their money, never mind what’s in the glass.”
A typical CWG Auction bidder as seen by Mr. Min
Anotherdamnedfoodblog has Mother City foodistas in a frenzy as it slays and braiis a few sacred cows around town. Speculation as to its author is a trending topic on twitter and my pesos are on the man with the smallest ears in the business, DC. Of course the blog name is all wrong. It should be anotherfuckingfoodblog as it has more fucks than Gordon Ramsay has deep-fried Mars bars. Winegoggle should be hired as Bacchanalian columnist on the texture of the recent hilarious KY-scented scoop, a glory hole in one.
Another clue is anotherdamned &Union photo, a dining destination that defies keyboards with its upside down N, a sexy Soviet-era design element. A bit like the upside down i of Unik restaurant in Buenos Aires, punctuation that goes down well with all those upside down !s, beloved of Spanish speakers. It was upside down !s all round last night for Unik’s carpaccio of wagu beef with salt and parmesan shavings and a hint of black olive paste. Genetic Japanese material in an Argentinian cow given a Latin flair. At $65 (that’s less than US$16, confusing as the symbol for peso is $) Alan Pick should switch from Australia to Argentina for his wagu supplies for his Butcher’s Shop & Grill.
Us in Unik last night
Move over dueling banjos, SA has dueling wine auctions. And this year is shaping up into a mother of all struggles. Nederburg goes down in the middle of September (16-17th) while the CWG Auction takes place a fortnight later, on 1 October. So how do the Auctions stack up?
Another year, another Franschhoek wine writing competition and as expected, another scandal. This time the winning entry appeared in a UK magazine – The World of Fine Wine – whose contributing editor, Andrew Jefford, was one of the three judges.
In fact, Andy wrote a couple of stories in the edition in which the winning piece, a faux touristico-historical recount of the well-known Vin de Constance PR opportunity, appeared, making it into the table of contents of the weighty organ, unlike the winning entry. Do letters to the editor count? Andy’s participation was publicized before entries closed, so clearly no blind tasting this, unless Andy recused himself?
I had planned to boycott (like last year when Tim Atkin was the judge from hell who trashed SA wine writers, calling them barely qualified fans with typewriters, before judging entries) but Marilyn Cooper, Principal of the Cape Wine Academy, beat me to it and entered on my behalf. I thought it churlish to refuse when the organizers asked if the game was on and besides, what a joke if the entry was my Sarie Kos invention of Zef Wine, which is reproduced below in translation from Afrikaans. Quite a change in style to the maiden aunt angst of the winner that I thought US judge Jay McInerney at least, might like.
Ducking charges of Sour Grapes, the real tragedy is that, like last year, the winning entry appeared in a foreign publication with less readership in SA than the journal of Architectural Marvels of Ulan Bator and at £40 a back copy, unlikely to become a best seller anytime soon. Is this really what the sponsors had in mind? And why must there always be suspicions of a scam? Is this an African thing? A Franschhoek (“sunny place for shady people”) thing? A fine wine thing? Other Franschhoek producers are unlikely to be best pleased.
The news that lovely Lorraine Immelman’s woman winemaker of the year competition has been cancelled has knocked the spittoon 1.2mm off its rapidly rotating axis. The reason supplied is that sponsorship from Landbouweekblad magazine “expired at the end of 2010, and [Lorraine] is negotiating with new sponsors when the competition re-launches in 2012.” Which begs the question: why didn’t sponsorship renewal negotiations start earlier? Capitec Bank are yapping at the heals of the Big Four who all fund substantial sponsorships in wine. So how about it, Riaan Stassen?
Eben Sadie, Alan Pick and Cathy Marshall
Sandton meatmeister Alan Pick cringes every time Julius Malema clears his throat. For when Julius jaws, restaurants empty faster than sushi being nibbled off the nipples of a naked Russian hostess. The power of Juju lies as mouthpiece for a sizeable faction of the ANC’s electorate – he is the SA version of Top Gear whose recent pronouncements on Mexico and now Albania find resonance with the chavs of Cardiff and Carlisle.
Top Gear Trio
How much? R180;
Where? Paul Cluver, a small principality in Elgin 27 (0)21 844 0605;
Why? This is not Alan Pick’s kind of Pinot. At a vertical tasting of Cluver Pinots in November, Sandton’s Mr. Meat pulled no punches: “South Africans are bold and brash. We want to be overwhelmed. We want grapes in a glass.” In which case the Chamonix 2007 is recommended, made by Gottfried Mocke, recently canonized into the Cape Winemakers Guild.
Paul Cluver and a Pinot
How much? R265;
Where? Hamilton Russell Vineyards (HRV), Hemel & Aarde Veranda, 27 (0)28 312 3595;
Why? When Galileo described wine as “light held together by moisture” he couldn’t have had this benchmark Pinot Noir in mind as it was on the flip side of the flat earth and several centuries in the future. A Hemel & Aarde sunset would be the right light for this wine as the flavours are senescent, overripe just before they tumble into decay and oh so sexy for that.
Anthony Hamilton Russell selling wine to Alan Pick
