Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Blaauwklippen Blending Competition Winners' lunch

We have had a very busy two weeks with several large and important events. We attended the Blaauwklippen Blending Competition lunch on Thursday, before the Cape Winemakers Guild Auction, great fun for all and we enjoyed it.. Welcomed by their friendly waiting staff and a glass of the Blaauwklippen Brut Rosé

Some Brandade; flavoured, deep fried, crumbed mashed potato balls

and bobotie and chutney on a crisp slice of baguette was innovative, if a little difficult to eat

Zandvliet winemaker Jacques Cilliers, Van Loveren head winemaker Chris Crafford
and Blaauwklippen Vineyard Manager Jaco van der Westhuizen chatting on the terrace

Narina Cloete, Blaauwklippen's winemaker, chatting to some of the contending teams

Clive Torr, one of the judges, chatting to Dane Raath who, with his mother Cathy, represents the brand

A long table set out for lunch

and, to intrigue us, the winning blend in a magnum awaits opening
at the announcement of this year’s winning team

Four wine club teams this year and we sat with them
Franz and Marina von Moltke of the DeVine wine club in Saldanha Bay up the West Coast

Riana and Willie Marx from Polokwane in Limpopo; their wine club is called Yin and Yang

Sam Rolland with his wife and new son, representing their Gauteng wine club, Carignan My Wayward Friend
(A co-incidence, John worked with his father Peter at Young Advertising)

Sonja Matthee representing the Kultivaria wine club from Port Elizabeth with her guest Hennie Smit

A toast to the winners

Experienced Toast Master, Broadcaster and actor Guy McDonald was our MC for the day
and it was time to announce the winner

Narina told us how close the results were. This year, the brief was to make a Bordeaux style blend
The wines provided for blending were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec
Malbec has always been one of the most impressive grapes grown on Blaauwklippen
The instruction for the blend was to use a maximum of 60% of any of the varietals and a minimum of 5% of any of them

Cabernet, Malbec and Merlot was the order of the wines used in the blend for all of the four finalist clubs!
All four clubs had used the same varietals in the same order, just different amounts
And the competition was very close; the judges spent some time on the very first tasting and then had to retaste
Narina then asked the clubs to comment on how they had blended the wines

The Blend comparisons

Carignan entered the competition as a sharing experience
This is their third year in the competition and they were finalists last year
DeVine have taken part in the competition for between 15 and 20 years
and Franz Moltke did the blending at his 65th birthday on their stoep at Gansbaai
Kultivaria have been taking part in the competition since its inception
and Dr William Marx of Polokwane was given the wine blending kit for his birthday!

It was time for lunch and we were served a glass of the Blaauwklippen 2022 Blush Rosé
Lovely pale rose pink, perfumed nose with rose petals and strawberry, which follows through on the dry palate;
a good pairing wine with seafood and summer dishes

There was a selection of flatbreads and salads for starters
This was the Pork belly with red onion, peppadew and stewed apples

The menu

Moroccan chicken humus, pickled red onion, coriander, basil, garlic and mozzarella

Roasted root vegetable salad with whipped feta and ciabatta lace

The main course of Herb crusted Sirloin served with potato terrine, cauliflower purée and a red wine jus

We then had a chance to taste the still unidentified winning blend with the main course
It is very attractive on the nose, good cherry and cassis fruit, a hint of perfume, almond and vanilla wood
Smooth as silk on the palate with layers of dark amaretto cherry and red and black berry fruit
Some light chalky tannins and dark oak on the end. So easy to drink, no faults
Definitely the best winner in the competition that we have tasted over several years,
so enjoyable and it went very well with lunch

The dessert, a Poached pear frangipane tartlet with cold costar, fudge crumble and cranberries
reminded us of our childhood and was delicious

The Trophy!

Two of the judges, Marius Lategan and Zandvliet winemaker Jacques Cilliers
The other judges under Narina were Clive Torr and Elmarie Rabe of Stellenbosch Wine Tourism

Drum roll... and Narina announced the blends in order and then the winner

and the winners are: Franz and Marina von Moltke of the DeVine wine club with their 40/40/20% blend
Here receiving the trophy and decanter prize from Narina Cloete
The trophy and decanter are donated each year by Vitria Glass

Enjoying the win outside in the sunshine in front of the Blaauwklippen manor house

and then we bumped into the world's most famous rugby "water boy"
Johan "Rassie" Erasmus, SARU Director of Rugby celebrating the last day of his year of being banned
by the International Rugby Board from association with any team on a match day
because of his justified criticism of the poor standard of refereeing

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