There are several wine competitions throughout the
year, each of which has a different format. Some are judged by wine experts, others by the wine trade; some by pure
amateurs, others by winemakers, journalists
or the entrants' peers and some are a combination of all the above. The Old Mutual Trophy employs a mix of different
specialists involved in the wine industry and, each year, invites several judges from different countries to get a good outsiders' view of how the
local industry is doing. The wines are
subjected to rigorous tasting. This year, 212 producers entered wines, and 1040
wines were tasted in three and a half days. There were some very exciting
results, reported at the Feedback Session last Thursday
A welcome snack and a cup of coffee on arrival
Show Chairman Michael Fridjhon tells us about this
year’s wines
Fongyee
Walker (China) - Malaysian-born, a graduate of Cambridge University, where she
held the title of ‘Best Varsity Blind Taster, and China's best known wine
educator.
She said that the Chenin class was
fantastic and mind-blowing in its diversity of style, which we produce so well. There was not a lot of love in the large Merlot class. She was excited
to see what South Africa has to offer and encouraged us to get involved in the
growing Chinese market, where most people still drink tea and beer and spirits. She thinks that Cape Blends is an exciting
category, although their reliability was disappointing, probably because of indifferent closures. So many bottles were needed because of this.
Pinotage domination should not happen. It bullies everything else into submission. There are so many exciting
red blends and several medals were awarded this year
for wines using Tannat and Touriga Nacional; so different on the nose and the
palate
François
Rautenbach - Heads up the ‘Singita Premier Wine Direct’ programme for Singita
Private Game Reserves, Relais & Chateaux, sourcing and supplying wines for
the Singita properties in Southern and East Africa
He reported that there is
obviously real care being taken in the Semillon class, so we need to reward
them with purchases. There is substantial growth in the white Bordeaux blends class,
but growers think that they can charge more for these wines. And, while there were a
few good wines, too many did not reflect
excellence. "Don’t experiment at the customer’s expense". The Sauvignon Blanc
class was remarkable this year, no massive acid attacks, they have mellowed in
a good way. Shiraz needs more precision and there were many disappointing wines.
Some top, but not enough good wines
Véronique
Drouhin-Boss (France). Winemaker at family-owned Maison Joseph Drouhin in
Burgundy, she supervises the vinification and tracks the development and ageing
of the wines through daily tastings with her brothers, Frédéric, Philippe and
Laurent.
In 1988, together with her father, Robert Drouhin, she vinified the
first vintage at Domaine Drouhin in Oregon, USA, where she is still in charge
of the winemaking.
She
last judged here 6 years ago and says that the improvement is amazing. Quality is very high
and the use of oak is a lot smarter than it was. There is great definition,
purity, complexity and elegance. We need to ask "is the clone or rootstock
the best for my terroir?" She encourages organic and biodynamic winemaking. There
is still some over-pressed bitterness on wines. She found the Pinot Noir class
more difficult; it was not very exciting this year. She found greenness and
queried the fining and filtration. If it is ‘refining’, would it be better ? We need to do trials
of when to pick, and when to bottle. She picked up too much alcohol on some wines.
The most disappointing is the bitterness from possible over-wooding. The use of a maximum of 25% new oak overwhelms the wine and it does not age well. Some are too
light, need texture and don’t taste like Pinot Noir.
Gerard
Basset MW (United Kingdom) -
Judged the
World’s Best Sommelier in 2010 and awarded an OBE (2011) in acknowledgement of
his mentoring of a generation of young sommeliers and his contribution to the
British hospitality industry. Voted Decanter Man of the Year in 2013. The only
person to have qualified as a Master of Wine and Master Sommelier and to hold a
Wine MBA (from Bordeaux). Honorary President of WSET (Wine and Spirits
Education Trust. Overall
the quality of the wines he tasted is excellent. The Bordeaux
blends were very consistent. The Sparkling/MCC class was disappointing. Many of
the new wines are harsh, bitter and not very pleasant. Many lacked elegance and
were clumsy but, conversely, some established wines are very good indeed.
The Champagne template doesn’t always work for us. He enjoyed the Pinotage class; after
50 tasted, he is very positive. He would have given gold to all
the dessert wines
JD Pretorius
- Graduated
from Stellenbosch University in 2007 with a BSc in Viticulture and Oenology. Worked at Beyerskloof and Graham Beck Wines as well as at Stonestreet
Winery in Sonoma County, California. Appointed winemaker at Steenberg Vineyards
in Tokai on the Constantia Wine Route in 2009 and promoted to cellarmaster in
2012
In
the Chardonnay class, he found some incredibly fine wines, very focused and
poised with good minerality, not too rich. However, some contained so much CO2 that they could have been in the Sparkling class. Michael commented that with the
use of mobile bottling plants, people are not controlling sparging, sulphur
levels and CO2 levels; they leave it to the bottling plant and this is not
good. Tasting the 50 Merlots was hard work. There
are not many good ones. The Other Red Blends class, with cinsaut and other
rarely used grapes, is beautiful and needs more investment and investigation.
James
Pietersen Head
sommelier for Belthazar and Balducci's restaurants in Cape Town and a former
wine buyer for the Vineyard Connection in Stellenbosch. Moving imminently from there to The Wine Cellar.
Riesling
was an interesting class, winemakers are working hard at it. One shone, others
coming to the top. We mustn’t be scared to experiment. Unusual varieties like
Tannat, Reisling etc will excite the consumers. They tasted 94 Cabernet
Sauvignons and this is the most important class internationally. There were
wines of quality and it is a strong class. He is glad to see structure,
persistence and great freshness coming through. Our top wines are world class.
Cathy van Zyl
MW Master
of wine, who has judged previously at the Trophy Wine Show, most recently in
2011
An occasional panelist for several other local competitions and has
judged overseas with stints at Vinitaly's Concurso Enológico Internacional, the Sydney International Wine Competition, the Shanghai International Wine
Competition, Decanter's World Wine Awards and the International Wine
Competition. Associate editor of Platter's South African Wine Guide, co-founder
of the web-based publication Grape, and co-author of the South African chapter
of The Wine Report for several years. She chairs the Institute of Masters of Wine's
education committee and lectures internationally.
She
had a wonderful time judging the Sauvignon Blanc class. What style should we be
producing? We should vary our styles. Herbaceousness is fine, so is the
slightly sweaty style. There was representation of every style we could
imagine. The wines tasted were very impressive. There is also improvement in oaked Sauvignon Blancs. She
is just back from the UK and Decanter and tasted New Zealand, Chilean, Argentinian,
Australian wines. Ours are good
The
line up of the wine crew, who work tirelessly in the background to facilitate
the tasting of the wines
The
Grande Crew!
Then
it was time for lunch in the restaurant
and
to taste some wine with lunch
Three of the wines available for us to drink
as
well as some good bubblies
The
Menu
The
fresh and simple starter of beetroot with goat's cheese
This
unusual white blend from Rickety Bridge was a good accompaniment to the
beetroot
Another
guest at lunch was Don Hammond, a Confrère de Maitre de Bordeaux from Manchester
in the United Kingdom. We had great fun tasting wine together and comparing
the wines and the dishes
Veronique Drouhin-Boss and Angela Lloyd in deep discussion. We spoke to Veronique about Christopher Keet's wine pairing lunch at Aubergine the next day. Good fortune and coincidence brought her there...
The
main course was succulent breast of duck with a confited duck leg, crisp tuille
of duck skin and a duck rissole, accompanied by a cauliflower purée and mushroom
jus. Delicious and a good sized portion
The Outsorceress magician in the background: Janice Fridjhon, who makes it all happen, keeps
this competition going so well and works on the road shows - seen here with Veronique Drouhin-Boss and Angela Lloyd. Do try to
get to one of these shows in your area to taste some of the winning wines. Click here for details.
Another
great wine to go with the duck
Decadent
dessert
Tired
judges and organiser after a long four day stint, enjoying lunch. Francois
Rautenbach, Christian Eedes, Janice Fridjhon and James Pietersen
The beautiful manicured
gardens of Grande Roche hotel in Paarl
