David Sonnenberg told us that Wellington is much closer to Cape Town than
Franschhoek and that it is a gem of a wine valley. This was at this award ceremony, held in a fairly new venue, Au' de Hex Boutique
Hotel in Wellington, where Johan van Schalkwyk, (chef owner of Twist Some More) produced a really good menu to match the
winning wines
What
is Quest for the Best? “Quest for the
Best” is a competition initiated for Wellington by Wellington, celebrating the
wine district’s quest to showcase the overall quality and diversity of the Wine
of Origin Wellington
Judging:
A total of 64 wines were sampled and judged at a blind-tasting session by five
esteemed Sommelier-judges on 21 July
These judges were:
Gregory Mutambe – Head Sommelier
Twelve Apostles Hotel
Barry Scholfield - Sommelier, Rust & Vrede Restaurant
Kent Scheermeyer - Hospitality
Consultant
David Clarke - Previous Chairman
Australian Sommelier Association, Ex Animo Wine Logistics
Higgo
Jacobs - Sommelier & Wine industry Consultant
The ‘Quest for the Best’ top 10 wines
of Wellington for 2014 are:
· Diemersfontein Wines 2012 Carpe Diem
Viognier Reserve
· Diemersfontein Wines 2012 Carpe Diem
Pinotage Reserve
· Doolhof Wine Estate (Pty) Ltd 2009
Doolhof Theseus
· Welbedacht Wine Estate 2005 Welbedacht
Cricket Pitch
· Welbedacht Wine Estate 2011 Welbedacht
Wine Estate Pinotage
· Thokozani CCV 2012
· Wellington Wines 2014 Bovlei Cellar
Chenin Blanc
· Wellington Wines 2011 La Cave Cabernet
Sauvignon
· Dunstone 2012 Dunstone Shiraz
· Linton Park Wines 2013 Louis Fourie
Chardonnay
Students from the Hurst Academy prepare for the onslaught of
guests
It’s a spacious and well designed
function venue
Seating outside for better weather
The entrance
And a warm welcome with good, representative, but anonymous, wines to
try
Journalist Johan Crafford with a colleague
The service bar
Very professional staff
Chef of the day and owner of Twist restaurant, Johan
van Schalkwyk
He prepared some lovely canapés. These
are choux pastry buns stuffed with smoked salmon paté and caramelised onions
Wonton cups with smoked ham on apple
jelly mousse
Pickled Yellowtail topped with
pineapple
Today’s menu
Schalk Burger Senior of Welbedacht with
his wife and David Sonnenberg of Diemersfontein, who was our Master of Ceremonies for
the awards
The gathered assembly
David Sonnenberg about to announce the
awards
David with judge Higgo Jacobs –
convenor of the completion judges, member of the Sommelier society & Wine
industry Consultant,
Higgo tells us about the wines they
tasted and judged
An award for Diemersfontein
Johan Fourie collects an award for Doolhof
Tiaan Burger collecting Welbedacht's
award
Neil Marais from Dunstone with their award
Corinne Borman of sponsors Mutual and
Federal presented the awards
Chef explains what we will be eating
All the award winners together
The starter of very good local Springbok
carpaccio with rocket, blueberries, toasted pine nuts and shaving of mature
goat's cheese
A display of the winning wines
The main course was a duo of lamb.
Perfectly cooked lamb cutlets and long slow cooked lamb in small filo parcels
seared with a Rosemary Jus, a mint jelly, herb encrusted potato cylinders and
young green beans
A glass of Dunstone 2012 Shiraz please
Chef strikes a pose
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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