.: Cape Wine 2012

The food on offer was a disgrace: this was a quiche in the Jasminium restaurant that looked at least 4 days old. The sandwiches were worse

The selection of Pinots Noir for tasting at the Hemel and Aarde tasting presented by Peter Finlayson

Peter explains the difference of the wines on the Ridge and in the valley in the Hemel and Aarde

Completely full seminar

The wines we tasted: Bouchard Finlayson’s 2010 Galpin Peak, Hamilton Russell 2010, La Vierge 2010, Domain des Dieux 2010 Josephine; Bouchard Finlayson’s 2011 Galpin Peak, Creation 2011

Amazing old wines from some classic producers for a tasting being held by Michael Fridjhon. Sadly, we were not invited to this tasting. We did See Michael doing the pre tasting check on the bottle and he said they were all amazing. Only one bottle was corked. We do have one or two of these in our cellar so there is an incentive to open them now.

Michael Fridjhon taking a photograph of the wine box wall,

watched by an amused Simon Back

The attractive Constantia stand

Andrew Gunn wearing his Gunn tartan on his Iona stand

Benny Howard leads us amusingly into the wonderful Pinotage seminar

The 8 Pinotages we tasted

The panel discusses the wines and tells us the history of the grape

Jovial Beyers Truter with his Pinotage

Dave Hughes in his Pinotage Association shirt

The panel: Benny Howard, Dave Hughes, Beyers Truter, Abrie Beeslaar, Duimpie Bailey and Niel Groenewald

The wines we tasted were (in order): Lanzerac 1964; Zonnebloem 1975; Kanonkop 1999; Spier Private Collection 2004; Rijk’s 2004; Stellenzicht’s Golden Triangle 2005; Kaapzicht’s Steytler 2006; and Beyerskloof’s 2009 Diesel (Beyers’ beloved dog) – he says he cried for 3 weeks when Diesel died

Behind the scenes – backup stock of wines for tasting

Ina Smith of the Chenin Blanc Association and colleague with Niels Verburg of Luddite

Rows and rows of exhibitors

Tasting and selling

Anthony Rawbone-Viljoen and a potential buyer

The Distell stand and a bored observer

Going green – biodiversity and sustainability

The Graham Beck crew, marketer Arnold Vorster between cellarmasters Erica Obermeyer, and Pieter "Bubbles" Ferreira

In the Swartland corner, it was exciting and very busy, especially with Adi Badenhorst there to make things happen

Pieter Ferreira preparing for a tasting of Robertson chardonnays

The art of elegant expectoration – Pieter Ferreira shows how

Mr Ferreira presents…

Six superb chardonnays: Graham Beck Blanc de blanc 2008, DeWetshof Limestone Hill 2012, Graham Beck 2010, Springfield Wild Yeast 2009, DeWetshof Bateleur 2009, Springfield Methode Ancienne 2009