This is one of the high points of the
wine world each year and was held, again, at La Residence, a five star boutique hotel in Franschhoek on
Saturday night. They also present an award to the Young Winemaker of the year. People
do follow the dress code of Black Tie, so it is a rather glamorous evening,
filmed by TV and the awards are presented during dinner where the winning wines
are served
It is such a beautiful setting too
Welcomed with Steenberg's 1682 MCC Chardonnay Brut
Wade Roger-Lund of Jordan Wine Estate,
Stellenbosch and 2016 Diners Club Winemaker of the Year, Pierre Wahl of Rijk's
in Tulbagh with Wade's fiancée Elizabeth Mathewson and Pierre's wife Anli
Some canapés appeared, small blinis topped with
smoked salmon, skewers of tomato and olives and tiny fish cakes
Two industry gentlemen, previous winner Bartho Eksteen and Distell's Duimpie Bailey in serious discussion
A peacock on the roof
The other welcoming MCC was from Colmant in
Franschhoek
Willie du Plessis and his partner for the evening.
He is Standard Bank’s Head, Business Banking, W Cape. Standard Bank holds the
South African franchise for Diners Club
The crowd gathering on the lawn. There were some
very beautiful dresses and most men looked immaculate in their dinner jackets
Michael Crossley of Reciprocal trading with Teddy
and Doreen Hall
Time to take our seats at the long tables in the
Long Hall
It is a very long room
JP Rossouw, Publisher of Platters Wine Guide, was the
MC for the evening. This is the 37th year of the competition for Winemaker of
the Year and 17th year of the competition for the Young Winemaker of the Year.
A different category for each is chosen every year, this year it was Pinotage for the senior competition,
next will be Chardonnay. The category for the Young Winemaker (must be under 30
years of age) alternates each year between white wine (2017) and red wine
(2018). This year it was white wines. Entry is free and cases of the winning wine must be available to Diners
Club. The winning Winemaker will be able to choose a winemaking destination in
the USA and be given two first class return tickets on Delta Airlines and a
prize of R50 000. The Young Winemaker will win the same prize, but travel in
Tourist class and the prize is R25 000. The Judges this year were William Prudhomme,
Carrie Adams, Debi Van Flymen, James Pietersen, Michael Crossley, Nomonde
Kubheka, and Ntsiki Biyela, who was at our table. He also said the judges were
very sad that Dave Hughes was not able to be involved this year, he has been
involved for many years
Duimpie Bailey looking happy and content
Managing Director of Diners Club Pan Africa, Lesego
Chauke-Motshwane spoke about her job and about the Diners Club Cares Corporate
Responsibility programme, investing in education to make a better life for
people in this country. Diners Club has had a 61 year relationship with
Standard Bank
JP Rossouw
with last year's Young Winemaker of the Year, Murray Barlow of
Rustenberg, who had to hand over the award to the new winner
We all watch on screens above our heads as the
room is too long for us to see the presentation
There are some anxious faces here
Murray Barlow handing over the Trophy to Wade
Roger-Lund for his Jordan MCC Brut
Wade is really delighted about his win
The proud Young Winemaker of the Year 2017
Lots of loud applause
Editor of Platters Wine Guide, Philip van Zyl
with esteemed former Nederburg cellarmaster Razvan Macici
The menu for the evening
As the Young Winemaker award was announced, the
wine was poured and we had it with our starter. Blanc de Blanc 2015 Mèthode Cap
Classique from Jordan, has been on the lees for 2 years and is floral on the
nose with some wisteria and brioche, fresh and lively on the palate, clean and
slightly spicy, full of limes and lemons, with lots of prickle on the tongue
and it has long flavours. This is a temporary label; the wine will only be
available to the public from the cellar
Herb butter and lard
The rather minimal starter of a couple of cold
baby calamari with salad, mango squares, raw onion salsa and a cashew crisp
Time to applaud last year's winner who will hand
over the trophy to this year’s winner
Pierre Wahl, Winemaker of the Year 2016 with the
trophy
And the winner is...
Christiaan Groenewald of Eagles Cliff/New Cape
Wines, Winemaker of the Year 2017 for his 2017 Pinotage
It was then served to us to go with our main
course. It is an old style Pinotage, in a screw cap bottle, with rusty nails,
some spice and banana bread, initially soft on the palate with lactic notes
then prunes, sharp mulberries and rhubarb, and a rather bitter (wood?) end.
Over the course of the evening, we had some more wine from four different
bottles poured for us and some different characteristics appeared. The wine
does change in the glass, and it did go well with the food. We had three
winemakers at our table and a senior member of the wine trade, so there was
much discussion. The 2016 is described in the latest 2018 Platter as
"Unoaked, juicy, rounded, very fruity & moreish. A fun wine for early
drinking" 3.5 stars
The main course of lightly spiced springbok loin
which, we surmise, had been marinated in buttermilk, so was tender. Served on a
lake of parsnip and potato purée and a very sharp tomato ratatouille and sour
plum, baby carrots and a little lamb jus. Were they matching the flavours to
the Pinotage? Sadly, it was stone cold. They were feeding a very large audience
The judge for the winner of the social media tweet of the evening gives his result
The winner of the social media tweet of the
evening getting her reward which was a signed bottle of each wine, which she is
not permitted to sell. We managed to send out just one tweet before all the
others were lost, the WiFi was completely overwhelmed as so many social media
messages were sent out. The competition trended #1 by 10 pm
The winners pose with last year’s winners
Time for dessert. a jelly topped panna cotta with
some berries, a wonderful pistachio ice cream and a very chocolatey mini
macaron. Could have eaten three of those with ice cream and been happy
The winners with judge Carrie Adams, director of Norman Goodfellows. The band was
beginning to play. And then our carriage was at the door to drive us home. A
really great memorable evening
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
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