Thursday, July 19, 2018

The TOPS at SPAR Cape Town wine show

Tops at Spar Wine Show took place at Grand West Casino last weekend and we were invited by Jon Meinking to visit the show and taste 16 wines blind in his SA Wine Showcase Theatre. What a fun experience; we tasted so many good wines and some were really unusual. Good news for those of you in other cities, this show is travelling round the country and will be in Port Elizabeth 26th to 28th July and in Nelspruit from 29th November to 1st December. It has already been to Durban and Johannesburg
The theme in Cape Town was Winter Wonderland and it was snowing inside as we arrived (OK fake snow machines, but fun)
Two wine princesses to welcome you
Jon did three tastings on Friday. The show opened at 5 pm and we arrived just in time for his 5.15 tasting, Friday night traffic nearly made us late
Jon about to launch proceedings. You taste 16 different wines (they are all represented at the show), and try to guess the varietals and anything else you can manage, like the farm, the area and even the age! Not many of us got beyond the varietal and we were not particularly good at that!
Asking for comments from the audience. The wines were quite challenging to one’s perceptions and there were a couple in there that we mistook for wines that we know and love. Overall it was a great tasting and much enjoyed by the people attending, who contributed a lot at our session. Nice to see Jon's parents in the front row
After the session was over, we had time to explore the show for a while and kept bumping into people whom we know in the industry, like Jax Lahoud of winemag.co.za
Loved this bit of cork art!
There are three theatres of wine; this one was not open while we were there
And at the Tops at Spar shop you could buy any of the wines
We tasted some wine and chatted at the Viljoensdrift stand - they are in Robertson
and stopped for a chat at the NSRI stand, one of the charities we support, an essential one if you live by the sea
Tasted and chatted at the Overhex wines stand from Worcester. They are beginning to wine good awards and recognition for their wines. Their Survivor Sauvignon blanc won a Gold Medal in this year’s Old Mutual Trophy competition
Then to Laborie to taste one of our favourite Blanc de Blanc MCC bubblies from KWV
Saying hello on the Stofberg Family Wines Stand to Mariette and her husband. They are from the Breedekloof area. We particularly like their Mia Chenin blanc
Who or what is Die Mas from Kakamas? Well it’s a wine farm that makes wine, gin and brandy in the Northern Cape Kalahari. The Brandy called Die Kalahari Truffle would not pass the Trade Descriptions Act in the UK, as it does not contain any truffle. We were sad about that, it could have been interesting
And finally, our friends on the Perdeberg stand, led by Johan van Dyk, Perdeberg's marketing manager. Yet again we were blown away by the quality of their Chenin Blancs. Lynne bought a case of the Dry Land Reserve Chenin and John a case of the Perdeberg everyday drinking Chenin Blanc
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