Friday, November 03, 2023

The 2023 Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction

To quote Gordon Newton Johnson, Cape Winemakers Guild Chair, in his foreword in the 2023 Auction Catalogue of this very successful annual wine auction. "The depth and integrity of South African fine wine is increasingly acclaimed throughout the world and the appetite for breaking glass ceilings seems boundless"

He was so right, this year's auction did break glass ceilings,
both in the prices many wines received and in the magnificent final total reached. It was also very exciting to watch
It was held for the second year at the Lord Charles Hotel Conference Centre in Somerset West

We arrived early so that we could retaste as many of the auction wines as possible before the auction
A superb breakfast was awaiting guests

Winemakers Abrie Beeslaar of Kanonkop, David Trafford of De Trafford and Pieter Ferreira of Graham Beck

A plethora of great Cap Classiques from members' farms awaited us

and for those who wanted to start drinking wine later, good orange juice

Fresh fruit

Absolutely divine smoked trout on cream cheese bagels

Tiny omelettes, mini sausages 

We so enjoyed our time in the tasting room
because, not only were we re-acquainting ourselves with the wines coming up in the auction,
we were chatting to the pourers, who were either CWG Protégés or Students from Elsenburg
We love meeting the future of winemaking when they are young; they were all interesting and charming
and they know how to pour wine expertly; many also poured for the pre-auction tastings

Abrie Beeslaar and Pierre Wahl enjoying the morning

Mawande Sidula, final year Elsenburg student

First year student Tannah Caldwell

Final year student Quintin Coetzer

Duncan Savage, Sebastian Beaumont and Miles Mossop, the Lads!

with another, Niels Verburg

Too serious fellas!

Chefs in waiting, Yano Oosthuizen,
Delaire Graff Indochine Chef Reinhold Tromp and Sous Chef Ryan Zaayman
who would each be producing a dish for lunch

Bina Genovese, Managing Executive and Senior Auctioneer at Strauss & Co gets the auction started

Peter Moyo, Dr Shephard Maphisa and Danisa Zulu

Gordon and Nadia Newton Johnson sitting right at the back, where the winemakers tend to congregate and watch,
so that they can exit easily without disturbing proceedings

Francois Rautenbach of Singita Luxury African Safari Lodges & Wildlife Reserves
watching the prices climb as bids flood in, both in the room and rapidly on line

Mid-morning, some fresh oysters

and mini lamb burgers, in case you needed feeding up

These little peppery mouthfuls of tender beef were superb

Caprese with pesto

or, if you were really hungry, a chicken curry

Later on, around one o'clock, the chefs appeared with their very special dishes
and, of course, we were able to taste the wines to pair with the food from their farms

Executive Chef Virgil Kahn and Reinhold Tromp

A very Asian umami dish with many mixed textures and flavours of mushroom


This was superb, the cured trout melted in the mouth
Only regret? Lynne only managed one. This was very popular


A good well-flavoured, tender beef tartare

produced by Jessica van Dyk, former Head Chef at La Colombe in Constantia
who now has her own restaurant, Post & Pepper in Stellenbosch

Chef Marthinus always impresses. John was heard to say he would eat more pap if it always tasted like this
Lynne nearly fainted; he is not a fan
A crisp and creamy polenta ball, crisp, deep-fried kale (another veg we usually avoid) was superb
The raisins, seeds and capers added sweetness, acid and contrast
and there was a secret ingredient, a light dusting of fresh truffle. Knockout

Marthinus Ferreira, Cathy, Gary and Alex Jordan, the Jordan team


From the restaurant on Ernie Els

Wesley Aucamp with his tender Kudu, so popular you had to queue

Former Old Mutual CEO Peter Moyo, Bina Genovese, Dr Shephard Maphisa and Danisa Zulu

Roland Peens took his turn auctioning the wines

Duncan Savage auctioning Miles Mossop's wine by special arrangement; he generated good prices

Bantering with the audience to raise the price and keeping Miles amused and slightly nervous

At 2.30 dessert appeared; it was obviously very popular
When John went out at about 2.45, only these three samples of Chocolate mousse were left!

Richard and Mariette Kershaw

Dr Alistair Meredith was also one of the auctioneers

Samantha O'Keefe and Richard Kershaw

Frans Smit and David Nieuwoudt, happy with the prices

Susie Goodman, Executive Director of Strauss & Co

and worth waiting for... The record-breaking total achieved at this year's auction

The happy and hardworking Strauss & Co team with the Cape Winemakers Guild's Kate Jonker and Martie Nauschutz,
and wine producers Samantha O'Keefe and Gordon Newton Johnson

Sommelier Eric Welile Botha surprised us with a visit; he is now working in the Maldives
He has claimed us as parents; we have known Eric for many years and are very happy to add him to our family...
What a day, we so enjoyed the auction
and watching the winemakers, many of whom are our friends, achieve such great rewards for producing superb wines

All our stories can be seen in the Blog Archive near the top of the column on the right

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