Thursday, October 17, 2024

The 2024 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction

After an early start, we arrived at 9 am the Lord Charles Hotel's Conference Centre in Somerset West 


Registering at the entrance

CWG General manager Kate Jonker with two visitors

Breakfast and an aromatic side

and socialising over breakfast

The "backroom girls" who keep track of the bidding and register the bidders

A room for informal tasting of the wines being auctioned

Erika Overmeyer with two of the Elsenburg final year students pouring the wines

Abrie Beeslaar (Beeslaar and Kanonkop), Pieter Ferreira (Graham Beck), Frans Smit (Spier), Sebastian Beaumont (Beaumont)

Samanta O'Keefe, current CWG chair, welcomed the attendees

The auctioners - Susie Goodman, director and auctioneer at Strauss & Co

and auctioneer and wine consultant Roland Peens

Wine consultant Higgo Jacobs and Sarah Jordaan, head of the Strauss & Co Wine Department

Keeping track of the prices
Guild members Pieter Ferreira, Rianie and Louis Strydom, Charles Hopkins, David Nieuwoudt

Nadia and David Sadie

Corlien Morris of Wine Menu in Johannesburg waiting to see if one of her bids was successful

As each wine was auctioned, the details were shown on screens round the room

Lunch break
Richard Kershaw (Kershaw), David Finlayson (Edgebaston), Duncan Savage (Savage Wines)
and Miles Mossop (Miles Mossop Wines)

 Snacks as a starter
smoked chicken foccacia, plump Saldanha oysters, braaibroodjies and vegetable kebabs

Wines to accompany lunch

Marlvin Gweze of Newmark Hotels, bidding and observing

Henry Prins, Lord Charles Conference and Banqueting Manager and JP Hayward, Hospitality Banqueting Manager

A beautiful family - Duncan Savage with his wife Zani and daughter Kate

Lunch was prepated by five prominent chefs, three of whom were from independent restaurants




 

The best dish of the day, perfectly cooked salmon with accompaniments that highlighted the dish.
















Dessert came later and was a selection of tiny Petite Fours

and then attention turned back to the auction

At the end of the day the R16 516 500 total was almost R2m more than the amount achieved in 2023, up 11%.
There was a total of 276 bidders from 13 countries of whom 101 were successful
Registered bidders were from many countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, China, UAE, United Kingdom and the USA
55% of sales went to South African bidders, with the balance of the wines going to overseas bidders,
with 28% going to the UK
48 wines in 2 118 cases (6x750ml), 20 white and 28 red were sold,
 with an average price of R1 309 per bottle, R1 210 for white wines and R1 375 for red wines

The annual Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme raised R2 320 850
The Auction raised R493 300, adding to the R1 827 550 already raised throughout the year by the CWG members at various charity events
All funds raised in this sister event of the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction go towards supporting the Cape Winemakers Guild Protégé Programme
The Auction would not work without the effort put into it by all the members
of the Cape Winemakers Guild and Strauss & Co teams
It was a very exciting day with many treats for the buyers

The Strauss team
Roland Peens, Sarah Jordaan, Susie Goodman, Chantelle Johansson, Higgo Jacobs

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

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

Posted by MENU at 2:58 pm 0 comments

Martin Moore memorial sundowner at Durbanville Hills

We were invited to Durbanville Hills wine cellar to join the team and other guests
at a memorial sundowner to their much-loved late cellarmaster Martin Moore

Martin was a good friend who was an important mentor to us when we were studying for our wine diplomas
and he was winemaker at Groot Constantia 

As we arrived we met old friends wine merchant Michael Bampfield-Duggan
and Tielman Roos, co-owner and viticulturist at Mooiplaas wine estate

Durbanville Hills CEO Albert Gerber welcomed us all

The guests listening to Albert's welcome


A portrait of Martin Moore by Theo Paul Vorster

Albert took us into an adjoining room where he spoke about Martin, the cellar's first cellarmaster,
and his influence on the organisation which is now a subsidiary of Heineken

followed by a reminiscence by journalist Emile Joubert

Theo Paul Vorster the artist spoke about his relationship with Martin

Martin's sister Janine Roos with her copy of the portrait


More reminiscences followed from the floor

Martin's family and Albert Gerber with the artist and the portrait
Alexander Moore, Mariette van der Merwe, Albert Gerber, Theo Paul Vorster, Janine Roos, William Moore

We were all invited for a Durbanville Hills Sauvignon blanc sundowner on the upper deck


a brilliant sunset

Janine and Tielman Roos and a glass of Pinotage

and Table Mountain in the late evening

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

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

Posted by MENU at 2:55 pm 0 comments

Sunday Pinot noir tasting at Strauss Auctioneers

On a Sunday afternoon in late August,
John attended a tasting of the best South African Pinot noirs at the Strauss & Co premises in Salt River

Righard Theron showed two De Grendel variations on the theme


Proposal Hill Pinot noir MCC and 2022 Op die Berg Pinot noir

In a separate alcove, all the Pinots were from the Hemel en Aarde/ Walker Bay area


Jean Engelbrecht's Cirrus Pinot from the Ceres Plateau
presented by Rust en Vrede assistant winemaker Lara Barnard

Winemaker Tim Hoek of Haute Cabrière and his wife Lesley with the estate's Pinot noirs

Andries Burger, talking to Glen Hunt, with Paul Cluver Village and Estate Pinot noirs

Werner Muller showed his Iona, Kloof and Mr P Pinots noir

Dudley Wilson with Kershaw Smuggler's Boot Pinot noir

Antonij Rupert Cape of Good Hope Sneeuwkrans Pinot noir 2020

There were two lucky draw prizes of a case of 6 bottles of Pinot noir, presented by Andries Burger and Glen Hunt

Bobby Wallace with his family's Paul Wallace Braveheart Pinot 2016 and 2020

Michelle Waldeck, Young Winemaker of the Year finalist, showed the Benguela Cove Walker Bay Pinot noir 2023

Hasher Family Wines Ernest Pinot noir 2022 


It was good to catch up with Berene Sauls and her Tesselaarsdal Pinot noir 2022

Spookfontein Cap Classique Brut and Pinot noir 2022

Liam Cloete showed the Newton Johnson Family Vineyards 2022 and Walker Bay 2023 Pinots

La Vierge Noir 2021 and Apogée Single Vineyard 2022

shown by winemaker Christo Kotzé

Gottfried Mocke with his Cap Maritime Pinot noir 2022

Barend Erasmus, assistant winemaker at Bouchard Finlayson with a fan and his Galpin Peak Pinot noir

The full suite of Creation Pinots from the Hemel en Aarde

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

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

Posted by MENU at 11:14 am 0 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)