Tuesday, August 30, 2016

2016 Cape Winemakers Guild tutored tasting and Auction Showcase

This is, without doubt, always our best wine tasting experience of the year. We had the opportunity to taste 38 of the 54 Guild 2016 Auction wines and one brandy, at speed, hear what each winemaker has to say about the wine he or she is entering in the auction, make notes, empty a glass for the next wine and move on quickly. Some winemakers are great and talk up their wines giving the tasters time to do all the above. Others just say the name of their wines and move off at speed, which adds to the frisson of the event, but leaves us breathless
The wines are extraordinary. If you love and buy wine, register now to attend this year's auction which will be on the 1st of October at Spier. It is open to the public. Registration for the Auction and sales of VIP Lounge tickets will close on Wednesday, 16 September 2016. Contact CWG for details. http://www.capewinemakersguild.com/auction We will see you there
The tasting was held in the Reserve at The Taj Hotel
A choice of welcoming bubblies from Villiera, Spier, Graham Beck and Simonsig to open the palate
Radio broadcaster Guy MacDonald in high spirits, already
The room fills up fast. This tasting is for wine trade, media and other invited guests
Kevin Arnold of Waterford with Journalist Maryna Strachan
A hello hail from Michael Olivier
John Loubser of Silverthorne getting the tasting bottles lined up. The pouring staff were magnificently efficient
A forest of bottles
Enjoying the day, Michael Olivier with Mike Bampfield Duggan of Wine Concepts
Guild Chairman Miles Mossop opens the tasting
Our great pourer, Inga Rix of Nitida, kept us on our toes. While you are tasting the wine in your glass you must have the other glass empty for her to pour the next wine. You have one minute to taste and write your notes before emptying the glass and going on to the next wine. It’s a nonstop process for about 2 hours. Oh, and it is recommended that you spit rather than swallow or you will need an UBER home – or, perhaps, an ambulance
Bernhard Veller of Nitida introduces his auction wine, the Swan Song 2015 Sauvignon Blanc - 30 cases. Green, lovely mouth feel, zingy. Will do well
Bartho Eksteen took seconds with his presentation of the Vloekskoot wooded Sauvignon Blanc 2015 - 44 cases. Cat's pee nose, Tropical fruit palate and long finish
Simonsig has two wines this year. Johan Malan presents his Mediterrano 2015, a great blend of Roussane, Grenache Blanc and Verdelho. 50 cases in the auction. Complex layers of fruit, a white Rhône style wine, for food
Linda Potgieter and Marine Point observing the tasting
We were so pleased to see new CWG member Sebastian Beaumont with his first Guild wine, The "Moerse Moer" 2015 Chenin Blanc - 40 cases. A wine to invest in, we think. He received a nice warm welcome from the audience
Kevin Arnold introducing his Waterford '88 Kept Aside Chardonnay 2015 - 40 cases Refined and elegant, made to last
The other Kevin, Kevin Grant of Ataraxia presenting his Under the Gavel Chardonnay 2015 - 40 cases. It's a major food wine, very complex, layered and giving
The room in full flight, concentrating hard
Jonathan Snashall, Michael Pownall and Anel Grobler in the front of the room, all seriously tasting
Miles Mossop of Tokara with his Siberia Chardonnay 2015 ("If you lot think it's so darn cool, call the farm Siberia!", said Tokara owner GT Ferreira) 30 cases. Silky smooth and rich
Boela Gerber with his Groot Constantia Chardonnay 2015 - 40 cases Zingy Citrus, concentrated, time
Pourers at the ready
Another new member welcomed was Gordon Newton Johnson. He presented the Family Vineyards Seadragon Pinot Noir. 40 cases. Spicy cherries, smooth and sweet. free of sulphur in the winemaking, this should do well
Neil Ellis with his Insignium 2013 a blend of Tempranillo and Grenache, which was the talk of the tasting. 60 cases. Layers of ripe dark Mediterranean fruit, grippy tannins and long finish. A great expression of Rioja's grapes
Carl Schultz introduces his Hartenberg Auction Shiraz 2014 - 60 cases. Always anticipated, its rich full fruit with right tannins. this wine is made to last and will sell for top prices
After the afternoon tasting, we walked down to the CTICC for the public tasting of CWG wines. Here Pierre Wahl showed both his Rijks Pinotage and the 2013 Chenin Blanc. A Pinotage which Lynne enjoys (there aren't many); it’s salty with layers of dark fruit and spice
Peter Finlayson of Bouchard Finlayson had his Missionvale Chardonnay 2012 and the Galpin Peak 2012 for tasting. Always good
Miles Mossop is excited about this year's auction wines and we hope that he will do as well as he did last year
Here he enjoys a tasting with Neil Ellis of his Tokara Siberia Chardonnay
David Finlayson of Edgebaston with Annemie Adriaanse and Mark, tasting his CWG Edgebaston Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 Reserve - 60 cases. One of our highest scoring wines. Soft and silky fruit with a spicy buzz, warm and magnificent, berries, cherries with length and depth. Watch this space. from the GS vineyards
Duncan Savage pouring his Savage White 2015
Every year, we try to support the CWG Development Trust Protégé programme by bidding on the Silent Auction, it is our way of putting something back into the industry that supports us so well. . Despite several bids Lynne only managed to secure one wine this time. The silent auction is getting deservedly more attention. It is Teddy Hall’s Mediterranean White
JOHN ADD A PICTURE PLEASE OF THE TEDDY BOTTLE HERE

We will try to get more bids in on the Silent Auction on the day of the Auction. But Lynne hopes not to encounter the man who followed her closely and immediately (with a huge smirk on this face) topped every one of her bids as she made them last year. He was obviously very competitive and very rich. She was tempted to make a huge bid on something so he would have to top that too but she is not that devious. Or rich
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2016

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