After our hectic couple of days last week, with visits to
Avontuur and L’Avenir on Wednesday and Thursday and then Friday’s wonderful lunch at
Joostenberg, we had a quick trip home to unpack the car, fetch a friend from
Europe who was staying at the Winchester Mansions and hare off to the Vineyard
Hotel for Wine Concepts’ Seductive Sauvignons wine show. Were we tired? Hell
no, when faced with over 107 wines to taste. Many farms showed both Sauvignon
Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon. And there were many seriously good wines to
sample. The show was very well attended and Mike Bampfield Duggan told us that they had sold about twice as many tickets as they did for the show last year
One of the highlights of the evening was at the Springfield table. They showed a Methode Ancienne Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 which, for
us, was the best wine of the evening. Just what a good Cabernet should be,
bright and juicy fruit, silky smooth with nice soft tannins and acid holding it
all together and some well integrated wood. A wine to drink with a splendid
meal. And this year’s Life from Stone sauvignon blanc is lively and lean and
worth buying
Ataraxia Sauvignon Blanc at R102 was a bargain. Kevin
Grant has some of his Guild Sauvignon Blanc coming up at the Cape Winemakers
Guild auction this weekend and it will go for much, much more. If you can’t afford
auction prices, go and buy this. The exact same can be said for David Niewoudt’s
Ghost Corner Sauvignon Blanc, very impressive as always
The Iona Sauvignon Blanc is a classic, as is the De Grendel
Koetshuis 2014. The Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve is quite splendid and
will last for years, as it should at R421 a bottle
There were several older sauvignons blanc on show and they showed how well this varietal can develop with a bit of bottle age. Standouts here were Mooiplaas, Domaine des Dieux and Springfield who showed wines with great depth and complexity which were up to seven years old
There were several older sauvignons blanc on show and they showed how well this varietal can develop with a bit of bottle age. Standouts here were Mooiplaas, Domaine des Dieux and Springfield who showed wines with great depth and complexity which were up to seven years old
Natalie Opstaele of Almenkerk with their full-on, tropical nuanced Sauvignon Blanc, which so impressed
Annemie Adriaanse with the wines from Black Oystercatcher
Terry Rodbard with Vineyard Hotel GM Roy Davies
Johan Kruger of Sterhuis, Jenna Bruwer of Springfield and John Collins
Jackie Rabe of Strandveld Vineyards and Trizanne Barnard, who was showing her Trizanne sauvignon blanc
