At a festive lunch at the Twelve Apostles Hotel in Cape Town this week, the results of the 2012 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge were announced. There were four category winners and one overall champion fizz, although subsequent debate indicated that it might not have been the one the judges would have chosen if they’d been allowed!!
Big winners of the day were J C le Roux and cellarmaster Elunda Basson. Her Pinot Noir Rosé 2008 won best Rosé and the Scintilla 2003 won best blend before being adjudged also best overall winner.
The Blanc de Blanc category was won by Simonsig with their 2007 Cuvée Royale and the Museum Class was won by House of Krone with their 2001 Krone Borealis Cuvée Brut. Because the rules of the competition stated that a Museum Class wine could not be the overall winner, the Krone Borealis missed out on the top honours, but it seems that this rule will be changed for next year.
Interesting facts which emerged from the event:
• All the winning wines were more than 4 years old.
• Total sales of MCC now top 7 million bottles per year.
• Local sales of MCC are doubling year on year.
• Sugar levels are now lower than previous – to be labelled ‘Brut’, your wine must now have less than 12g of sugar.
• Next year, minimum time on lees will be raised to 12 months from 9 months.
• 2015 is slated for bringing in further legislation, probably along the lines of any MCC which is vintage-dated MUST spend a minimum of 3 years on the lees.
With Allan Mullins, panel chairman, praising the improvement and increase in quality of this category, Joaquim Sa, MD of Amorim SA, celebrating a decade of sponsorship for the event and Pieter Ferreira, Chairman of the Cap Classique Association announcing the above changes to improve the category even further, it seems that all is looking lovely-bubbly for MCC!