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Sixty pinks down this morning, which leaves another thirty-odd for tomorrow. Who would have though the category was so big? This was the first public appearance of the Pink Panel which is taking a look at SA rosés and blancs de noir for Classic Wine magazine, the leading Bacchanalian organ in SA. Here is the panel before start of play at Panniers, Airport City, this morning.
Wine show entrepreneurs behind Veritas, Michelangelo and the Old Mutual Toasty Show will be rubbing their hands in glee with news of an innovation that will increase capacity at tastings and their revenues: tampons to refresh judges between glasses of wine. As reported in the Guardian yesterday, the UK’s leading celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, at Ellerman House earlier this month, notes “if you drain the moisture in your mouth you experience richness, creaminess and sweetness more intensely … and there is really nothing much more absorbent than a tampon.”
So two different sets of oracles have thrown up two completely different lists of Top Ten Sauvignon Blancs. A panel of “experts” paid by First National Bank at a tasting organized by the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group and two enthusiasts (Aníbal Coutinho and yours truly) who do it because they love wine, sans sponsorship or salary.
Aníbal writing up his tasting notes at Holden-Manz in Franschhoek
Not too many Platter pundits at Dick Enthoven’s art factory in downtown Cape Town tonight, venue for a Secret Tasting. For this was a blind tasting taken to the max and blind tastings to Platter are like garlic to a vampire. John Belushi black Ray Bans with the lenses spray-painted black; all very Ray Charles. An A-team black van with black drapes to whisk guests from Pleinpark Parkade to the blacked-out venue. Black raffia streamers.
The objective: four glasses of Spier Chenin Blanc – Chenin Black – wittily matched with niblets. To start, the fresh and fruity one they make for Woolies all the way up to the 21 Gables. Anne of Greengables that wins serious gongs in every competition it is entered. Except the Old Mutual Toasty Show this year. Which reflects badly on a competition that desperately punts itself as being credible when Lotto is closer to the mark. Tata ma chance, tata ma millions as the bowties say.
Andrew Milne, Spier CEO
Forget about “heartbreak grape.” The real secret of SA Pinot is hair as the leading father-and-son SA Pinot winemakers Peter and Peter-Allan Finlayson (below) confirmed at Anysbos on Saturday night.
Peter and Peter-Allan Finlayson
How cool it was to eat rare pan-fried hake, basil and tomato crushed potatoes, Parmesan velouté, mussel and saffron vinaigrette in the Pierneef à la Motte restaurant last night while listening to the secrets of Spain played on guitar by that George Clooney lookalike, James Grace. For this was no WINE magazine money-making opportunity with bizarre sponsor that pretty much defined the SA tasting scene for the last decade. No siree! This was the first event for Classic Wine magazine and publisher, Dominic Ntsele dropped more bombshells in his witty address than an Apache helicopter piloted by Prince Harry. Here he is being painted by Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef.
The inaugural edition of the Fleur du Cap Top 100 Places to Eat in Cape Town 2011 has blown the lid off the pressure cooker of SA food awards. Receiving his scroll for Top Ten Place to Eat in Cape Town and the Peninsular, the Cape’s first celebrity chef Franck Dangereux, from the Food Barn in Noordhoek, declared himself well pleased that more voices had been added to the Cape’s chorus of restaurant critics, to enthusiastic applause from some of the Cape’s most famous chefs. Here are three of them: Giorgio Nava, Harald Bresselschmidt and Franck.
Giorgio, Harald, Franck and a heavenly halo
So Jancis Robinson does not expect to see a black member of the Cape Winemakers Guild within 20 years. We I do and her name is Ntsiki Biyela and I had dinner with her last night at the Grande Roche in Paarl. The Roche is a venue JR herself dubbed “one of the best billets in the Winelands” after one of her trips to judge SA wine – presumably not the time she heroically “judged” 151 young SA shirazes for the Old Mutual with the worst case of ‘flu ever, doing it all by texture. Amazing!
Ntsiki last night @ the Grande Roche
Nederburg Auctioneer Anthony Barnes had to work hardest to move the Nederburg Private Bin D234 Sauvignon Blanc 2009 at Saturday’s Auction. Which is strange as in terms of quality, IMHO, this Darling-fruited darling was superior to its sister Sauvignon Blanc made from Durbanville fruit that had no problem selling the previous day. An opinion seconded by sommelier Miguel Chan who put the wine in his top three Sauvignons of the Auction.
Saturday's Nederburg Auction bidders
The news that the Sauvignon Blanc Interest Group [SBIG] has secured sponsorship from First National Bank for a continuation of the controversial Sauvigon Blanc Challenge from defunct WINE magazine, confirms that wine marketing abhors a vacuum. But has the market moved on? Consumers buy wine for occasions: a Sunday braai, wedding anniversary, book club and not by varietal. Most punters think that rosé is a cultivar.
This is the seminal idea behind Clare Mack’s revolutionary 100 Women, 100 Wines event that went down at the V&A hotel at the Waterfront yesterday. And rather than pointy headed “professional” pundits from Pinelands, Clare brought ordinary women together from Pretoria, Porterville and Putsonderwater to choose them, courtesy of 1Time Airlines. Ladies were selected by a competition run in Destiny magazine, the most popular competition Destiny has ever run.
100 women choose 100 wines
