Christian Eedes' 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon Awards presentation took place at Burrata restaurant in the Biscuit Mill
precinct in Woodstock, our old stamping ground. Christian, James Pietersen, Head
Sommelier at Belthazar/Balducci’s, and Roland Peens of the Wine Cellar hand-picked
60 of the best producers, whom they invite to enter their Cabernets and these
are then tasted and they choose their top ten. It is definitely not a Talent
spotting, come-all competition; they are looking for wines that display 1st, 2nd
and 3rd Growth status. Sponsored by Sanlam Private Investments, this
competition is in its third year and there were two 5 star wines, six 4½ star
wines and two 4 star wines.
FIVE
STARS - Rustenberg Peter Barlow 2009 & Waterford 2011
FOUR
AND A HALF STARS - Knorhoek Pantére 2011; Rickety Bridge Paulina’s Reserve
2011; Spier Woolworths Reserve
2011; Spier Woolworths The Hutton Single
Vineyard 2012; Thelema 2010; Warwick
Blue Lady 2010
FOUR
STARS: Kleine Zalze Family Reserve 2009 & Oldenburg Vineyards 2011
To
quote Christian: “Local wine makers are displaying a far greater understanding
of the wine styles being demanded by both critics and consumers. Winemakers are
going in pursuit of fruit and less aggressive tannins, and simply put, this
means picking riper and working smarter in the cellar. The end result is a wine
with sumptuous fruit but not short of freshness or tannic structure. The best
wines display fruit purity, acidity which is not hard or spiky and firm but
fine tannins."
Eight
of these wines come from Stellenbosch, 1 from Franschhoek and 1 from Darling.
We were
able to taste through all the top ten wines and, while there is quite a linear
strand connecting them (we think due to the predilections of the judges), there
are some quite elegant and restrained Bordeaux style wines and one or two of
the more robust fruit-driven style that we personally prefer with South African
Cabernet. Most of them need to be kept
for a year or five, it would be infanticide to drink them young.
We were welcomed with a glass of the house MCC from Colmant
Wine retailer extraordinaire Mike Bampfield
Duggan and Shante Hutton, News Editor for Wine.co.za
Wynand Grobler of Rickety Bridge with Brian Cluver and Nic van Aarde of Warwick Estate
and joined by Burrata owner Neil Grant
Wynand Grobler with journalist Greg Landman and Johan
Joubert of Kleine Zalze
Christian Eedes and Daniël Kriel, CEO of sponsor Sanlam
Private Investment, open proceedings
Assembled tasters and media listen
attentively to the awards and take notes
Christian explains how they selected the
top 10 wines
Hennie Coetzee and Maggie Mostert of batonage.com
Johan Joubert of Kleine Zalze collects his
award for one of our favourites, the fruit driven Kleine Zalze Family Reserve 2009
The top 10 winners with their awards
Clever canapés for those of us not
eating carbs. Tender beef with horseradish crème on a wafer of ciabatta
Not so sensible were toasted brioche
sandwiches. They did disappear quickly though
Paulina's Reserve from Rickety Bridge
2010 4.5*
Thomas Webb and Rudi Schultz of Thelema Sutherland with
Christina Harvett, who co-ordinated the tasting
Moist lamb meatballs topped with
parsnip crisps
Chefs preparing the non-stop canapés
Small lamb pies and Arancini rice
balls
Lamb meatballs just out of the oven
Head chef Annemarie Steenkamp with her
canapés
Journalist Joanne Gibson with judge
James Pietersen
Three involved wine people in
discussion: Jan Laubscher, Christian Eedes and Dax Villanueva
Editor of Classic Wine Cathryn Henderson, Greg Landman, Mike Bampfield
Duggan and Karin Glanfield-Pawley
Waterford’s five star 2011 Cabernet
For a change, a good picture of our
photographer, John Ford, with Jacqueline Lahoud of Winemag.co.za. Photographed with John's camera by James
Pietersen
From Woolworths: Single Vineyard range
Spier 2012 The Hutton which was awarded 4½ stars
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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