An invitation to meet the top four competing wine clubs and taste the winning blend with lunch
Pouring a welcoming glass of Brut Cap Classique
As our welcoming drink, we chose the Cap Classique
Canapés while we waited for all to assemble included mini Caprese on sticks
Chatting to MC Guy McDonald, Wine.co.za owner Judy Brower and winemaker Alastair Rimmer
He and Guy were two of the judges of the competition. The others were Clive Torr and Marius Lategan
Very good bobotie spring rolls and chicken brochettes with a yogurt dip
Competitors, guests and media arrived
Judge and wine expert Cape Wine Master Clive Torr chatting with some of the competitors
The 2023 Blaauwklippen wooded Chardonnay was served with the first course of lunch
Everyone being seated for lunch
Winemaker of the Year and Blaauwklippen winemaker for many years, Narina Cloete
and on the table in front of her, the winning blend to be opened and served with the main course
Narina with talented Master of Ceremonies, Triathlon competitor and broadcaster on Smile FM, Guy MacDonald
He is very good at his job
Narina told us that the Blaauwklippen wines chosen for the blend this year
were Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot
Competitors were asked to produce a classic Cape Bordeaux style blend
She asked the wine clubs competing to make a blend using one wine at 60% and the others with no less than 5%
and they could choose any one of the four to dominate
The result proved to be very, very interesting
The menu
The winning wine, traditionally bottled in magnums, was opened for us to taste and drink with lunch
It had a good note of the perfume of Petit Verdot violets and was attractive, complex
and full of dark black cherry, cassis, rhubarb and mulberry flavours
Not the usual Cabernet cassis signature. On the palate, silky and it did not resemble a Cabernet-based blend at all
but was very drinkable with lots of sweet and sour berry fruits, chalky with grippy tannins and high acidity
which were masked by the chalk
The fruit was repeated with added plum and sour cherry, so Lynne and John concluded that it was a Merlot-led blend
One by one the clubs stood up to introduce themselves and tell us a bit about their club
The Bloemfontein club Free State Wine Tasters Guild is a group of 21 men only, founded in 1976
The Lydenburg Wyngilde is from Mpumalanga
The Sunday Tennis Club is from Bryanston, Johannesburg
Winey Hootsens is from Durbanville in the Western Cape
The starter was a Quattro Formaggio Raviolo, served with a slice of toast
Main course was slow cooked Beef Short Rib on a bed of tomato Orzo pasta with baby tomatoes
The Panko crusted Haloumi cheese bites on a bed of rocket and pomegranate seeds
Narina about to present the Trophy
The winning team was Lydenburg Wyngilde from Mpumalanga, represented by Michelle and Renier van der Merwe
and their blend was 48% Merlot, 26% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc and 7% Petit Verdot
The wine was indeed a Merlot-led blend, which many in the media had also concluded from tasting it blind
Free State Wine Tasters Guild and Winey Hootsens came joint second
and The Sunday Tennis Club was in third place
Dessert was Mini Crème Brulées, some topped with very hard to break caramel,
mini baked cheesecakes in pots and macarons
There was a terrible fire at Blaauwklippen last year
The famous and very beautiful historic Cape Dutch Manor House (it was then a hotel) was burned down
It was a terrible sight and a huge loss
But it is being rebuilt with as much of the original character as possible being reinstated
All the stories we have produced since 2012 can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page
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