Every year Amorim Cork sponsors this competition in South Africa for the best Methode Cape Classique wines, wines that are made in the French Champagne method. The Awards ceremony was held last Thursday at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and there were some surprises and also some of the more familiar top names who received awards. Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut MCC 2009, from the boutique wine producer in the Hemel en Aarde Valley near Hermanus, was crowned as South Africa’s best Cap Classique. The results are as follows:
- Best Vintage Brut and Overall Winner: Domaines des Dieux Claudia Brut MCC 2009
- Best Brut Non-Vintage: Lords Non-Vintage Blended Brut
- Best Rosé Non-Vintage: Graham Beck Brut Rosé
- Best Rosé Vintage: Graham Beck Brut Rosé 2009
- Best Blanc de Blancs Non-Vintage: Colmant Brut Chardonnay
- Best Blanc de Blancs Vintage: Laborie 2010
- Best Museum Class: Simonsig Kaapse Vonkel Brut 2004
Bottles
chilling on arrival
Welcomed with a glass of Lord's by a member of staff
The
first surprise was the quality and sophistication of the welcoming bubbly, Lord’s
MCC blend from Robertson area. It is
lean and crisp and in the style of a Brut Sauvage, a style we really love. It
was awarded Best non-vintage Brut, which is so deserves. It is so nice to see a
wine come of age
The
elegant all-white conference marquee in which we gathered
Pieter
Ferreira of Graham Beck Wines with journalist Melvin Minnaar
Two
absolutely stunning canapés: At the top a fresh asparagus spear in a jar with a
beautiful mushroom and truffle paste, topped with a herb oil. In front, a whole
fresh oyster in a cold lime broth topped the spherical, chef made, ‘caviare’
Three
winning winemakers: A representative of KWV with Hannes Meyer of Simonsig and Kobus van der Merwe of Laborie
Wayve Kolevsohn, sommelier at The Test Kitchen, with Pieter Ferreira
Best
Bubbly on show was won by Sharon Parnell of Domaine des Dieux in the Hemel and
Aarde valley
And
the rain it raineth just on that day. And boy did it come in from over the sea!
Joaquim
Sa, the Cape Town representative of Amorim Cork, announcing the awards
The
Twelve Apostles talented sommelier Gregory Mutambe pours us another good MCC to
go with lunch. It was hidden in a napkin as its award had not yet been
announced
The
lunch menu
The
Beetroot ‘terrine’ was a thick slice of fresh beetroot with an unusual sweet
goats cheese ice cream, a tangy apple gel and pickled baby pearl onions
Liezel
van der Westhuizen was our Mistress of Ceremonies. Here, Pieter Ferreira of Graham Beck gets two
awards - for the best Brut Rosé NV and the Best Brut Rosé Vintage 2009 from
Joaquim Sa
Pieter
also collected the award for the Best Blanc de Blancs Non Vintage MCC on behalf
of JP Colmant, who was overseas
Two
happy winemakers from Graham Beck with their awards, Pierre de Klerk and Pieter Ferreira
A
beaming Sharon Parnell of Domaine des Dieux with her award for the Best Vintage
Brut, Claudia.
Hannes
Meyer of Simonsig collects their award
The
Trophy for the Overall Winner of the competition is an impressive sword which is being collected here by Sharon Parnell
Listening
to the speeches
All
the tables had a good mix of winemakers, winners, industry people and media
Alan
Mullins tells us how the competition was judged
Greg
Mutambe, Head Sommelier and Bradley Isaacs, Food & Beverage Supervisor
Shante
Hutton, Wine News editor of wine.co.za, tweeting the winners to her readers
A
surprise award to Alan Mullins for his services to the Methode Cape Classique
industry
We are poured a glass of Claudia, the Best Vintage Brut and overall winner, from Domaine
de Dieux
Sommelier
Gregory checking that the wines are worthy of serving
The
winning lineup of MCC wines
Sharon
Parnell with her daughter Megan
Siobhan
Thompson, the CEO of Wines of South Africa, with Sharon Parnell
It
is unusual to be served roast chicken at functions nowadays. This supremely tender sous vide breast was
served on a delicious corn puree, with small fried potato gnocchi, forest
mushroom ragout, oven roasted shallots and a hazelnut crumble for texture and
flavour. There was also a very crisp and succulent confit’d wing
And
then came dessert entitled When life
gives you lemons… A soft lemon cremeaux
( the French for panna cotta) topped with a lemon puree, with honey cake, a
rooibos honey gel, a sharp lemon sorbet
and plain Bulgarian yogurt and some roasted nuts. Was it lemon overkill? No it was not. Just the right amount of citrus tang made this
a fresh dessert light with lots of different textures which went so well with
bubbly. The cremeaux was like eating a
lemon meringue pie in flavour but a completely different texture.
Emile Joubert, the PRO for these awards
Francois Malan, Simonsig
Liezel
van der Westhuizen winds up the Awards
The
sun has come out to allow the winners to pose with their trophies
The
informal picture!
Joaquim Sa, Peter Clarke and Sharon Parnell of Domaine de Dieux and Christophe Fouquet of Amorim Cork
And
just in case you were still hungry there were some petit fours with coffee
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2014
