We
lunched at Myoga restaurant at The Vineyard to witness the presentation of
these awards. We are very impressed at the huge improvement in the wines
entered but we are interested to see how long the low sulphur wines will last
in the bottle. To quote judge François Rautenbach: ‘Overall, the organic
category looks much better than ever before! It’s as though there’s been an
appreciable move towards commercialisation and upping quality.’ Impressive is
the growing commitment of the industry to get involved in biodiversity. However,
we still need the Government to legislate on what is properly considered to be
organic produce in this country. There are no national rules, only self applied
ones based on what overseas countries are doing and they vary a lot. We support
the industry BioDiversity initiatives as they are focusing their time and money
on very worthwhile projects. Click here to see the awards and
see the excellent lunch produced by Mike Basset and his staff.
*Winning Wines
Best wines made from Organically Grown Grapes
Best Wine Overall – Reyneke
Chenin Blanc 2013
Best Red – Waverley Hills
CW Reserve Shiraz 2011
Best White – Reyneke Chenin
Blanc 2013
Bloggers’ Choice – Waverley
Hills Shiraz/Mourvedre/Viognier 2011
Best Value – Nederburg
Earthbound Chenin Blanc 2014
Best Biodiversity and Wine Initiative Wines
Best Wine Overall –
Hermanuspietersfontein Die Bartho 2012
Best Red – Cederberg
Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
Best White –
Hermanuspietersfontein Die Bartho 2012
Bloggers’ Choice –
Neethlingshof The Maria 2014
Best Value – Jordan
Chameleon Sauvignon Blanc Chardonnay 2013
*Best Farming Practises
Winners
Overall Winner – La Motte
Runner-up – Vondeling
Best Contribution to
Conservation – Paul Cluver
Best Contribution to
Farming Practices and Production Integrity – Bartinney
Best (Sustainable)
Contribution to Tourism – La Motte
Best Contribution to
Community Development – La Motte
You need to title all the names
White wine and canapés on the terrace
Smiling staff welcome us
The restaurant set up for the tasting, awards and lunch
A canapé sir?
Getting to know each other at the table
Choux canapés
Ian Dinan, publisher of Getaway magazine, MC for the awards, opens the proceedings
Sydney
Mbhele, Divisional Executive for Integrated Marketing at Nedbank.
First course was a deconstructed waterblommetjie and monkfish ‘bredie’
(stew) with crispy lemon gnocchi. They were really delicious. Served with the best value BWI award winner Jordan
2013 Chameleon blend of sauvignon and chardonnay.
A
happy Mike Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts
Entre
was a mystery to start with then we realized it was the tea smoked salmon
covered in a licorice gel with pressed and crisp parsley apple squares on one
side of the plate and an Umame paste with condensed milk and a boquerones
(white anchovy) 'on toast’ . The salmon was perfect, moist and gently smoked
and the gel was not overwhelmingly licorice.
The boquerone was rather too sharp and acidic. This course went with the
two Waverley Hills red wines
We
are having a great time. Natalie Ritsch and Anel Blignaut, both judges on the The
Best Farming Practices category
Main
course of beautifully cooked loin of springbok served with a cauliflower
‘risotto’ below the ground vegetable, cured bacon cooked in salted molasses caramel. It was lovely except for the burnt leeks on
top. Carbon is thought to cause cancer,
we don’t want to eat it.
Dessert
was a stone fruit compote with vanilla, burnt white chocolate and caramel
nougat, toasted almonds and mascarpone meringue roulade. Very, very sweet and
enjoyed a lot by those with a very sweet tooth.
Went perfectly with the Neethlingshof The Maria 2014 a noble late
harvest dessert wine
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
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