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The first person to be interviewed (on video, for WINE magazine) after a blind tasting of Cape Winemakers Guild wines earlier this month, I decided on a leap of faith and singled out Adi Badenhorst’s Kalmoesfontein sticky as my highest scoring wine.
Adi Badenhorst, Pundit's Pick for the upcoming CWG Auction
The latest scandal to rock the SA spittoon is the news that the owner of one of the largest SA wine shows is to make the “final selection” of wines to be presented at an industry funded event in Hong Kong in November. As the WOSA September marketing newsletter announces:
“WOSA has booked a seminar slot to present on South African wines at the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair, being held from 4-6 November 2010. This year’s topic is ‘South Africa’s International Award winners’ and Michael Fridjhon will again be giving the presentation, followed by a guided tasting of a number of South African wines… WOSA will consolidate all information and Michael Fridjhon will make the final selection.”
Invited to a blind tasting of the 40-odd wines on the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction yesterday a fortnight, together with Christian Eedes, Tim James, Christine Rudman and Michael Fridjhon, I thought that participating in a sighted tasting this afternoon of the same wines would not quite be cricket. After all, I’ve made something of a crusade of blind tastings (“shallow” as Tim calls them) over the years. But I couldn’t resist the public showcase this evening, if only to sample some of the Salon de Refusés, which are something of a cause célèbre this year.
In poll position as you entered was my Paardeberg neighbour Adi Badenhorst who had Dutch/Afrikaans singer Stef Bos helping out on his stand. I took the opportunity of giving Stef a copy of my recently published Good Value Guru Diaries 2010. “I love books much more than music” revealed Stef, “there is something magical about them.” Although better than both my book and my music was Adi’s Vin Jaune, made Solera style from four consecutive vintages in old Sherry barrels.
Stef and Adi
A spirited and eloquent defense of the tasting status quo from the chairman of the various tasting panels at WINE magazine, Christian Eedes. Leaving aside outrageous claims that parts of the defense were lifted from the Wikipedia entry for Postmodernism – which would be a pretty postmodern thing to do in any event – Christian’s list of senior tasters speaks volumes for the status quo ante: Carrie Adams, Michael Fridjhon, Colin Frith, Tim James, Angela Lloyd, Allan Mullins and Christine Rudman. It’s the cast of an Agatha Christie whodunnit. My own establishment tasters would include South Africa’s most prolix foreign judge Dave Hughes and Duimpie Bayley, who chairs the panel for the Absa Top Ten Pinotage Competition. A competition reckoned to be to the most believable by Charles Back, the country’s most believable wine marketer.
Our blind tasting of Two Oceans yesterday included another omitted figure of towering reputation, Tinus van Niekerk, who wrote the textbook of wine appreciation back in 1981. We were joined by cosmopolitan blogger Clare Mack who brought a fresh Irish irreverence to the process, an exposure to popular wine styles in Europe and some excellent jokes. For while SA winemakers may be accused of suffering from “cellar palate”, local wine judges may likewise be accused of defending this palate in tasting tourneys, both blind and sighted (gasp!). Certainly Tinus and I were on the same wavelength, with our likes and dislikes in synchronized step, while Clare offered a refreshingly honest appraisal.
Carlen Groenewald and Clare Mack
The news that recently resigned editor of WINE magazine Christian Eedes is to take up the spectacles of pundit for an influential sighted wine guide has rocked the SA wine writing fraternity to its core. Christian joins his editorial predecessor Fiona McDonald as a sighted pundit for the annual Platter guide, supplying the answer to the trivial pursuit question “where do WINE editors go when they die?”
Multi-tasking Christian Eedes
Is Bizerka Bistro the best restaurant in Cape Town, and so, by extrapolation, the whole of SA? Certainly my oysters drenched in exotic dipping sauces followed by succulent lambs liver with a grape reduction would be hard to beat anywhere in the continent. To drink, an awesomely citrus Oude Denneboom Chenin Blanc 2009 from the Poor Vaarteberg (Voor Paardeberg for non-Americans) that was so good, Bizerka boss Cyrillia Deslandes (celebrating her birthday) postponed picking up the kids from the Waldorf school for a couple of glasses and mentioned that the Denneboom sales rep should give her a call (021 418 0001) so she may order stock. For the liver, a 2006 vintage Dornier Merlot, whose intense taste of mulberries was more suited to the liver than Tim Adkin’s plump posterior is to a business class sleeper seat on his eternal quest to reduce CO2 emissions in the wine industry.
Cyrillia on her birthday
As SA closes in on France in 3rd position as UK wine supplier behind Australia and the US, SA exporters are set to make further gains as the penny drops that Zef rappers Die Antwoord are a Chav phenomenon that will ring more bells than the Hunchback of Nôtre Dame in Doncaster and Derby, just like they do in Durbanville. That Die Antwoord were jolling in a Kuns Kafee in Pampoenkraal (pumpkin homestead, the original moniker of Durbanville) on Friday night (entrance R50) comes as no surprise as the pips already supply Blighty with dora, much of it under Constantia brands like HMS Rattlesnake (Steenberg) and Buiten Blanc (Buitenverwachting). Even that producer of classic Syrah, Eagle’s Nest, is buying-in Sauvignon Blanc and it’s not news that Klein Constantia has well traveled grapes.
Die Antwoord frontman, Ninja
Now that Chenin Challenge chaos has gone global after being picked up by UK wine writer Jancis Robinson in a posting which includes the first reaction from Michael Fridjhon, chairman of the judging panel, the cat is well and truly out of the bag when daily UK daily wineBiZ newsletter TiZwine picks it up. Sponsor Roelof Hugo will be relieved that the competition is now being abbreviated to WINE magazine’s Chenin Challenge rather than the Guala Closures Chenin Blanc Challenge as his principal’s wife comes from Sicily where they have a different way of sorting out problems.
Roelof Hugo
Andrew Jefford’s “white-bearded, chimney-loving sky-rider” called early this year in the shape of multiple copies of his much re-tweeted savior strategy for Australian Wine Falling in Love Again: Australian Wine and the International Press delivered as a public lecture in Adelaide (where the cheap oysters come from) in November and via e-mail to my chocked-up in-box shortly after. At least no trees were hurt in the process.
Marriage guidance councilor Andrew Jefford
Google/analytics is a tremendous program for fine tuning a blog rather than blindly following the advice of my editor at Travel & Food, Paul Ash, who advises “just tag ‘sex’ in a posting and watch the hits pile up.” The Editorial Trinity (Andrew, Hilary and Paul) at Travel & Food were lunching at the Troyeville Hotel today (and probably still are) and I was pleased to see at least one of their reds was a biodynamic wine made by Johan Reyneke.
Angela's box of tricks
