We were invited by Lorraine Immelman, Owner and
CEO of the Awards, to attend the Awards ceremony last Friday. It was held at
the Cape Sun in Strand Street which has recently been refurbished. The
Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards was established in 1997 as the
only international wine competition in South Africa. They are celebrating their
20th anniversary. The competition is unique in South Africa in that all judges
are hand-picked wine experts, representing all seven continents around the
globe. The banqueting room was filled to bursting with tables; we estimate 44
tables with 10 people at each, which made for a very large audience
What we really appreciated,
being so far from the stage, was that the awards were announced on the big
screen above the stage. To see the full list of awards click here https://michelangelocapetown.wordpress.com/2017-results/
The menu for the evening
Cleverly, the starter was
already on the table when we all entered. And a selection of wines was
available at each table. The salmon was briefly cured, but we welcome a light
and fresh starter, although you did have to watch for the extremely hot wasabi
PRO Emil Joubert was the Master
of Ceremonies for the evening and he began the announcements
Technical Director Christine
Rudman showed us some facts and figures. Judges this year represented 22 countries,
only five were South African https://michelangelocapetown.wordpress.com/judges-2016/
This photograph shows how the 100
point scoring system works. More and more competition judges are adopting this
system
The main course of poached
chicken breast roulade with Duchesse potatoes, rainbow carrots, sprouts and a
truffle jus. Sadly, with the best will in the world, keeping this dish warm and
serving it to that many people means that the chicken and the potatoes will dry
out
During dinner Emo Adams
performed. He is very popular and, apparently, was very funny too. We were right
under the speakers, so it was rather loud
We exited the banqueting hall
for dessert which was served as a buffet. There were two choices - a Peppermint
Crisp crème covered with granola and fresh fruit
You could add more fruit
Or these rather nice and crunchy
mini chocolate coated balls
The chefs were assembling the desserts
including this lovely creamy
chocolate crème, topped with raspberries
Michelangelo's double circle
logo, which is presented to the winners of the various categories to adorn
their wine bottles. Bronze, Gold, Double Gold, Platinum and Trophy are the
levels
Christine awarding Shawn Thomson of Du ToitsKloof with his
medal
She gets a lot of kisses from
grateful winemakers or wine farm owners. This time, Grant Newton, Global Sales & Marketing Manager - Wine & Tourism at Groot Constantia
The much coveted Trophies. This was awarded to Oude Molen for their 14 year old Vintage Selection
Sometimes, we feel that we earned this one! It went to Lourensford for their MCC Brut 2011
Lorraine Immelman, who started
these awards, in presents a medal
Worthy winners queuing for
their awards
We were so delighted to see
that Irene Waller of La Bri in Franschhoek was awarded a Platinum medal for her
La Bri 2014 Syrah
Deidré Labuschagne GM of Bergsig
Estate with a Platinum medal for their unconventional blend of Cabernet
Sauvignon and Touriga Nacional, Bergsig Icarus 2016
All the Platinum medal winners
and to Danie Keulder of Nitida
the African Cellar Suppliers Pinot Noir Trophy for their 2015 Pinot Noir. Hurray!
The award for the best MCC is
not a trophy, but a sword for Sabrage and this year it was collected with
alacrity and joy by Nuy Winery for their Nuy Legacy Celine MCC with the African
Cellar Suppliers MCC TROPHY
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment