Winter is the time of
wine competitions in South Africa – in summer, everyone is too busy making it
or drinking it to have time to judge it!
Wine competitions
Although there are claims that running
a wine competition is simply to generate income for the competition’s owner, it
actually costs quite a lot of money to run a competition well.
You need a
combination of qualified tasters, good back-room organisation, a decent venue,
eagle-eyed auditors and all of those things cost money, often far in excess of
any entry fees. So, as with most cases when you need money, the first people
you turn to are the banks.
Absa Pinotage Top Ten 2012
Absa has had a long
association with Pinotage for many years, sponsoring not only the Top Ten
competition but a book and a series of other initiatives aimed at raising the
profile of our national grape. The Absa Top Ten Pinotages were announced at a
huge affair on Friday with a four-course lunch for around 100 winemakers, media
and top brass from the bank.
The results were interesting
with no room in the top twenty for Pinotage-stalwarts such as Kanonkop,
Beyerskloof, Diemersfontein and Welbedacht (did they all enter? I don’t know). The short-listed wines showed off delicious soft tannins, juicy fruit and a
real elegance not always associated with Pinotage. Top area of the day for
Pinotage was Durbanville with 3 winners, and many congratulations to them all.
Top 10 Pinotages are:
Wellington Wines La
Cave 2010
Painted Wolf Guillermo
2009
Swartland Bush Vine
2010
Durbanville Hills
Rhinofields 2011
Rijks Private Cellar
2008
Simonsig Redhill 2010
Diemersdal 2011
Spier 21 Gables 2010
Altydgedacht 2011
Windmeul Reserve 2011