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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

MEDIA RELEASE: OLD MUTUAL TROPHY WINE SHOW 2011

MEDIA RELEASE: OLD MUTUAL TROPHY WINE SHOW 2011
SEEKING OUT THE BEST OF THE BEST FOR THE TENTH YEAR IN A ROW

2011 JUDGING

Judging for the 2011 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show – considered by many to be the country’s premier wine competition - took place at Grande Roche in Paarl from 9 to 12 May.

Nine panellists, working in groups of three and including one international judge on every three person panel, made t

heir way through the 1 062 submissions from 225 producers.

Old Mutual, headline sponsor of the competition since its inception, sees great value in a process which identifies the country’s top wines and makes this information available to the South African wine drinking public.

Recognising the importance of the rigour which goes into the Show's judging methodology, Old Mutual takes the top wines on a national roadshow to introduce them to discerning wine lovers in seven cities in Southern Africa.

“Old Mutual is proud of its 10-year sponsorship of the most prestigious event on South Africa’s wine calendar,’ says Joy Khaole, Old Mutual’s sponsorship manager. “Not only does it provide us with opportunities to build relationships with the wine-loving community, but it enables us to support the pursuit of excellence in an industry important to the reputation of Brand South Africa.”

The wealth management company’s support of the Show makes it possible to work in a judging venue which meets the highest international standards and for the show's organisers to assemble a panel of tasters which includes several with long-established international reputations.

Meticulous attention to detail throughout the process is part of how the Trophy Wine Show maintains its reputation as one of the toughest and most rigorous events of its kind in the world.


2011 JUDGING

The Show’s rules and guidelines are detailed in the entry kit and cover certification requirements, the market-readiness of the wines and the composition of the blends. Producers are compelled to declare the actual volumes of the batches bottled for submission to the show and medal-winners may only order medal stickers to the volume covered by this declaration and confirmed by SAWIS (South African Wine Industry Information & Systems).

Technical issues are managed by the show chairman, Michael Fridjhon, while show logistics (including the implementation of the ‘blind’ i.e. unsighted tasting) are undertaken by show manager, Celia Gilloway.

Submissions are kept in Miele wine storage units so that they can be brought to the judges at optimum temperature in Riedel tasting glasses. Judges never see the bottles or any aspect of the packaging, ensuring that their opinion is based on the wine’s merits rather than its image or reputation.

The three panels are directed to produce a consensus-driven result.

All the wines remain on the tasting bench until the completion of the judging of a particular class. This enables the jury to back-taste and to compare the evolution of the wine in the glass.

The panel's result is then submitted to the scrutiny of the show chairman and, in the case of the gold medal winners, to all their fellow tasters at the Trophy judging which takes place on the final day.

Prior to the announcement of the results, the top wines are submitted to an independent laboratory to confirm that the show sample is identical to the wines available through the trade.

The judging process and the competition results are monitored and audited by chartered accountants PKF.

The 2011 show attracted 1 062 entries from 225 producers.

Most of the entries retail for at least R100 – an indication that the industry recognises this as the most sophisticated competition of its mind in the country. The entry breakdown is as follows: Shiraz 132; Chardonnay 88; Cabernet Sauvignon 106; Bordeaux-style red blends 98; Sauvignon Blanc 141; Merlot 56; Pinotage 55; Chenin Blanc 48; and Museum Class 62 (substantially up on last year’s 39). Other Red Blend entries totalled 101 and White Blends 57. The 2010 show saw 1 012 wines judged from 234 producers with 25 trophies awarded to 18 cellars.

2011 JUDGING

Event partners American Express, British Airways Comair, Grande Roche Hotel, Miele and Riedel enjoy naming rights in respect of some of the trophies.

Since the 2010 event the Chenin Blanc trophy has been named after the late Harold Eedes, who, as publisher of Wine Magazine in the 1990s, played a key role in South Africa's Chenin Blanc renaissance.

The 2011 judging panel comprised international judges Debra Meiburg MW, founding director and judge of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition, Neal Martin, critic-at-large for eRobert Parker, America's most important wine publication and Thierry Desseauve, former editor of La Revue du Vin de France, France's most influential wine guide. 

They shared this task with several of South Africa's most highly trained palates – including Cathy van Zyl MW, former editor of Wine Magazine Christian Eedes, winery owner Gary Jordan, sommelier Miguel Chan, industry consultant Ginette de Fleuriot CWM and wine buyer François Rautenbach. Michael Fridjhon, who has been show convenor since 2002, continued as chairman of the judges.

Associate judges for this year’s show were selected from South Africa’s new generation winemakers and wine buyers.

A different associate judge sat with each panel on each of the medal-judging days of the show. They participated in the tasting and the post-judging discussion, though their scores were not necessarily taken into account in the final tally. Their involvement provides an essential training platform for the country’s wine judges of the future.

This year’s associate judges were winemakers Chris Albrecht (Bouchard Finlayson), Francois Conradie (Muratie), Thys Louw (Diemersdal), Bernard le Roux (Noble Hill) and JD Pretorius (Steenberg) and wine consultants Heidi Duminy CWM and Nkulu Mkhwanazi.

The results of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show will be announced in Cape Town on 1 June and the countrywide roadshow will follow immediately until 15 June 2011.

Public tastings in Cape Town and Johannesburg take place at the CTICC on Thursday 9 June (17h00 to 20h30) and Sandton Sun on Friday 10 June (18h00 to 21h00).

Tickets are available via Computicket at http://www.computicket.com www.computicket.com and cost R100 if purchased by 5 June or R120 thereafter or at the door.

Visit the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show website

http://www.trophywineshow.co.za www.trophywineshow.co.za for further information and historical statistics.

The 2011 results will be available on the website from 15h30 on Wednesday 1 June.

Ends

Issued on behalf of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show:

Contact: Michael Fridjhon
Telephone: 011 482 9178 / 083 600 9101
Email: mailto:mf@reciprocal.co.za
Issued by: OutSorceress Marketing
Contact: Janice Fridjhon & Alex Mason-Gordon
Tel: 011 482 5936

Fewer wine faults spotted on day 3 of Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show

Fewer wine faults spotted on day 3 of Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show


Author: Cathy Marston


Published: 11 May 11 Another busy day of tasting yesterday as the panels hit their stride and seemed full of purpose and a sense of accomplishment. Gary Jordan’s panel of Christian Eedes, Thierry Desseauve and associate judge Nkulu Mkhwanazi were ploughing through 138 Shirazes – only interrupted by the heavy projector screen which fell off the wall, luckily missing Gary and auditor Charnez who usually sits right underneath. They motored through 80 wines in the morning with plenty of consensus and some obvious contenders for gold medals. Both Gary and Christian commented on how few winemaking faults they found compared to 5 years ago – more wines are correct, but now the challenge is to raise the bar and make them exciting as well.


Debra Meiburg MW tweeted about snakes in the tasting room and spiders in wine glasses at the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show earlier this week.
Gary also felt that winemakers were not only using their oak better, but that the barrels they had access to had vastly improved in quality resulting in fewer dusty and green flavours in the wines. Having said that, he also believed that some people are spending far too much money on expensive barrels when the wine inside didn’t justify such investment and had insufficient fruit to be able to cope with the added layer of flavour.

‘The Blonde Bombshell’ panel comprising Ginette de Fleuriot CWM as chair, Debra Meiburg MW and associate judge JD Pretorius from Steenberg along with dare-to-be-different Miguel Chan were very enthusiastic about the small selection of Cabernet Francs with which they started the day. Debra in particular was impressed with the cleanliness and freshness of all the Cabernets – both Franc and Sauvignon - with Ginette agreeing “There was hardly any brett or anything else nasty going on – it’s all very exciting!”

The remaining panel comprising Cathy van Zyl MW, Neal Martin, Francois Rautenbach and associate judge Heidi Duminy had started off with a bang and a range of MCC’s and sparkling wines before working their way through a series of Chardonnays for the most part of the morning. Neal Martin in particular was very complimentary about the Chardonnays, even muttering the term “very Burgundian” at one point, although he did hasten to tone this down by adding “but with slightly less minerality”!

And so onto the final day with panel A tackling the 3 P’s of Pinot, Pinotage and Port, another spending the day entirely in red (non-Bordeaux) blends and the last panel doing an eclectic mix of wines ranging from pink to aromatics to Merlot. It’s a lovely sunny day in Paarl – let’s hope the wines can put everyone in a good mood too!

Can you be a wine judge?

Can you be a wine judge?


Author: Cathy Marston


Published: 10 May 11

It’s pretty darned hardcore this tasting lark. The teeth are rotting, the gums are sore, the hours are ridiculously long (a 12 hour + day yesterday and looking as if it might be similar today) – who would want that? Well, surprisingly enough, quite a few people are keen to take part and being asked to join the panel along with tasters of this calibre is a privilege and honour that’s worth losing a few teeth over.


Thys Louw of Diemersdal and Heidi Duminy, CWM are some of the associate judges at this year's Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show.
Joining the panel on the first day were associate judges Thys Louw (winemaker of Diemersdal), Chris Albrecht (assistant winemaker at Bouchard Finlayson) and Heidi Duminy CWM (an educator and retailer from Johannesberg). Thys commented that this was the first time he’s tasted without knowing the vintage which proved slightly problematical and chairman Gary Jordan certainly agreed that it made the tasters work harder.

Today’s associates included Heidi again – clearly a glutton for punishment – Steenberg winemaker JD Pretorius and Durban-based wine trainer and educator, Nkulu Mkhwanazi. Nkulu described his morning’s tasting as ‘fantastically interesting’ (which bodes well for the Shirazes!) whilst JD was very impressed with the flight of Cabernet Francs & Sauvignons. It’s a rare opportunity to taste alongside some of the most accurate and insightful palates both here in SA and overseas and I think all credit to all the associate judges over the last few days, none of whom seem to be out of their depth at any stage.

Tomorrow the judges will be joined by Nkulu for a second day, Bernard le Roux from Noble Hill and Francois Conradie from Muratie. An exciting array of Pinotage, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Port lies in store for them – black teeth all round then!

Quality white blends on 2nd day of Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show

Quality white blends on 2nd day of Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show


Author: Cathy Marston

Published: 10 May 11

“Did you know that if we were doing this tasting under the auspices of my tutor from UC Davis, Ann Noble, then we wouldn’t even have sequential and 1 or 2 digit numbers for these wines?” So said local judge, Gary Jordan, of Jordan wines, as he went on to explain that she issued all wines in blind tasting with a randomly-generated, 4 digit, non-sequential number because she believed (and had research to prove it too) that tasters can show a preference for certain numbered wines! Weird, but true!

So with the first day over, the panels are looking a little less bright-eyed and bushy-tailed than 24 hours ago. The Sauvignon panel, chaired by Christian Eedes and comprising Debra Meiburg MW and François Rautenbach with Chris Albrecht, assistant winemaker at Bouchard Finlayson, as an associate judge, was fairly buoyant with all of them falling into a comfortable rhythm very early on in the day and all of them very pleased with the quality of the wines submitted.

Frenchman, Thierry Desseauve’s strong opinions and extremely high standards proved a challenge for chairwoman Cathy van Zyl MW, who coped admirably with aligning his views with those of her own, Miguel Chan and associate judge Heidi Duminy to reach consensus. Their panel had the ‘plum’ classes of the day – white blends and Semillon - with competition Chairman Michael Fridjhon, being particularly excited about the quality of the older wines.

And Gary Jordan, Ginette de Fleuriot, Neal Martin and associate judge Thys Louw, from Diemersdal, worked their way through a mixed bag of different vintages of red Bordeaux blends, with their main concern being to give each wine the fairest mark possible. “It’s a question of how to reward a wine that’s aged, but possibly isn’t going to get any better versus a young wine that needs some time in order to show at its best” said Ginette as her panel tasted late into the evening in order to get through their allocated wines.

Dinner was scheduled to start at 8pm with most of the tasters rushing in at the last minute to sit down an hour later. Tough tasting indeed!



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International wine judge suggests changes to tasting procedure

International wine judge suggests changes to tasting procedure


Author: Cathy Marston

Published: 09 May 11 And so the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show gets underway at the Conference Centre of the Grand Roche in Paarl. Yesterday’s old wines tasting threw up some incredible surprises, the biggest one being a half bottle of 1959 Zonnebloem Cabernet Sauvignon which astonished and amazed everybody with its still-fresh red fruit, baked spiced plum cake and lively tannins. An incredible wine.


At the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show currently underway, international wine judge Neal Martin suggested trialling a shorter tasting session.
International judge Thierry Desseauve, who flew in to South Africa only one hour before the tasting, commented on how amazing it was to be able to taste such a potted history of South African wine all in one sitting – a testimony to the generosity of the wineries and in most cases, individuals, who plundered their cellars and sacrificed precious bottles for this tasting. Other stars were the 1986 Klein Constantia Sauvignon Blanc, Rustenberg Cabernet Sauvignon 1971 and the KWV White Muscadel 1933.

Tasting kicked off bright and early at 8.15am with a full day’s work ahead. Chairman of the Judges, Michael Fridjhon was delighted with how quickly everyone was settling in together, explaining that today’s panels were all led by local chairmen, each of whom was highly experienced. “This is particularly useful for overseas judges to have strong chairmen with plenty of experience and knowledge of local wines. One of the things we have learnt over the years is that it’s best to start the tastings with strong local categories with which all judges are familiar (such as Sauvignon Blanc or Bordeaux Blends) as this gives everyone confidence right from the start.”

On another note, a new development being trialled this morning is a much shorter tasting session. Normally, a panel will taste through 30 wines before taking a break and chatting about their results. At the suggestion of international wine judge, Neal Martin, his panel (tasting Bordeaux-style red blends) will be tasting only 10 wines before discussing them and moving on. This gives tasters the chance to talk about wines whilst they are still fresh in their mind and also ensure that their palates are constantly recalibrated. “It gives a very intense view of the wines” says Michael “but the downside is that you can sometimes lose a sense of perspective on the category as a whole.”

Will this be adopted by all the panels? Watch this space.

Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show Judges Feedback Session 2010

Article below courtesy of Wine Magazine South Africa and Trophy Wine Show.

There is so much a producer can learn from these feedback session, if they really want to know what are their strenght as well as likely weaknesses and how they can finetune to make their wines better in the future so as to compete smartly on the international wine scene and raise the profile of brand South Africa and perhaps results in more listings of South African wines on wine lists around the top hotels and restaurants of the world.

I will post the 2011 feedback session when available shortly, it will be welcome to see more producers, winery owners and winemakers in the future attending these session!

Miguel Chan



Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show Judges Feedback Session 2010


Published: 04 May 10 2010 Judging Panel:
Michael Fridjhon (Chairman)
Carrie Adams
Miguel Chan
Christian Eedes
Alex Hunt
Dr Tony Jordan
Gary Jordan
Angela Lloyd
Simon Tam
Cathy van Zyl MW

MF: Good morning. It's always a pleasure to welcome you here on the final day of the judging of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. This is an event which - for those of us who have spent the last three and a half or four days trying to calibrate, understand, remonstrate with each other and arrive at a conclusion - is a very happy time. We have just had that sense of how well or badly the die has been cast, because we do the trophy judging on the final morning. So these are wines which all achieved gold, whether in museum or in regular classes and if there is a sense of where the top end of the Cape wine industry is in one taste equivalent of a sound bite, it is at that moment.

It is also at the same time an opportunity for us to judge ourselves, because when we look at those wines, we see whether we have maintained what we consider an appropriate standard. We are also able in a sense able to criticize our fellow panelists by pin-pointing wines which we think shouldn't have been there - and I have to say it's an opportunity for the whole group of tasters and panelists to judge me, because at some point I land up being the gate-keeper (though there are wines which sometimes have so much support from the panel that it would be wrong for the show Chairman to take on the panel). But by and large everything happens with my consent and at least two members of the panel. The principle does exist by which I can bulldoze a wine through - though it hasn't happened this year or for many years. So we sit here, in a sense, in collegiate judgment of ourselves and it's quite nice when you realize you haven't actually done such a bad job after all. That's our feeling and on 17 May when the results come out - and rather more importantly in the two weeks that follow and the road shows are taken around the country and to Namibia - there are six local road show tastings; one in Namibia, two public tastings, one in Cape Town and one in Johannesburg, then the judgment of the market, as well of the judgment of the wine industry, descends upon our efforts.

Before we go into a detailed discussion of the show results this is also an opportunity that we have as judges to thank those people who have made the logistics of the last four days possible: Celia Gilloway and her team, Rina, Muriel, Katy and our auditor Charnez (a new auditor from a new firm), who spent his life working on the back foot for most of the fours days. From what I have in front of me, Charnez you've certainly managed to catch up. Thank you very much indeed. To all of you who worked through the night because as Tony Jordan said last night in his thank you speech at dinner, we arrive, the wines are on the table, they're at immaculate temperature, if another bottle is called it arrives miraculously and very quickly - because the system works so well, because this team works so hard and because - and I see many producers in this room, one or two of whom I assume in their time have had an interesting wrist-wrestle with Celia - it is because Celia runs this place with a rod of iron. So, to all of you many thanks for your support, many thanks for your assistance. I think I speak on behalf of all the judges when I say it has run like clockwork, the delivery has been immaculate and we are deeply grateful to you all for your assistance in making this possible.

The purpose of this section is really, other than to give you a brief summary of what we can tell you at this stage, to give the industry an opportunity to engage with the judges in terms of what the show revealed and perhaps to tease out from them interesting feedback relevant either to your class or classes as producer, if there's information that you wish to glean and you are absolutely free to direct it to specific judges at the table or to throw it to the panel and one or more people will take it up. That is the way forward.

I'm going to give you a very brief summary. I know people don't like this event to run for too long, they want to get most from the feedback session. So I'll start by saying that the show entry number seems to move up and down on a daily basis. The total number of wines at one stage was 1 015, then it was 1 030, now I have 1 023. That's because wines which were not disqualified, but didn't actually arrive in terms of delivery time, have been included. So we have 1 023 wines, happily down from last year's excess of 1 150, which was by 15% the largest number we've ever seen at the show and which puts a lot more pressure than we're entirely happy with on the panels to sort wines which really shouldn't have been there in the first place. Around 1 000 is a pretty good number. It means that the panelists look at just over 100 a day - 100 to 120 - over the three days. It is at the top end of what's acceptable, but it's a lot better than 150 plus. In the Shiraz class it was nearly 160 last year and 130 for most of the panelists on most of the days.

We have 32 gold medals of which three or four are in museum classes. We have 89 silver medals, which compares with 70 last year. We have 329 bronze medals, which compares with 330 last year, from a larger group. So in general the medal counts are up and this touches on a debate that was raised several years ago, namely if we achieve the same medal numbers year in and year out, are we saying that the industry is making no progress, and clearly this is not the case. There is no magical number. At no point is the panel told that it's being too generous or too parsimonious, which is a word I used to use quite often. This is probably the first year that, as show Chairman, I have tried to interrogate whether a gold really should be there, because there really has been a sense of a significant lift in quality across just about every class and across a number of classes which previously were not even considered possible candidates for gold medals. So we've seen a significant increase in quality. The panelists who have judged the show over many years will I'm sure be talking about that. It's something we've said day in and day out. We've seen altogether better top wines and, generally, better bottom wines. In other words, if I look at wines that scored under 60, which means absolutely faulty, not just commercial and not interesting, but technically faulty, that number was down to between 5% and 10%. The bulk of the non-medal winners are in a score of 60 to 69, which I know doesn't sound good when Robert Parker is scoring, but 60 to 69 is what we call good commercial - not medal quality, but absolutely perfectly respectable wine. I think that is a significant "up" on the past two or three years, as is the bronze medal count.

I don't want to take too much of your time going through statistical detail most of which will be available in the press kit or on the website and detail of which will certainly be available when the results are announced on 17 May. I'm going to pass the microphone down the line and ask each of the judges, one at a time, to really say as briefly as possible, an overall impression of the show and if, in what that judge is saying, there is a question you wish to ask, don't defer the question. Raise your hand and let's go from there.

Can we pass this microphone to Miguel.

MC It was indeed very interesting to be involved with the show and sitting on the few panels such as the Cap Classique, Shiraz and Cabernet, as well as exotic varietals like Malbec. There were some gems out there, but just in a few lines looking at the Cap Classique in general, many of the Cap Classiques did not show enough time on lees. They didn't really have the precision in terms of the acidity or sometimes the length was rather short, or the wood was really overpowering the delicate fruit. The single panel I was on was various non-Bordeaux blends. There was really a fantastic Pinotage blend. Nevertheless most of these blends were simple, everyday for the most part, marred by excessive greenness, resin notes and brett. There was quite a few of them. On the Cabernet two gorgeous Golds there, including one nine years old. They were really fantastic, but the bulk of the Cabernet, if I have to look from a fruit perspective and how to pair them, they were far too leafy. On the one side they were over-ripe, jammy with bitter tannin. So there was a prevalent tomato leaf character that was all over the glass itself. Going back to the exotic varieties, it was really exciting to see outside the big five white, big five red to see some fantastic Malbec as such. Last but not least, the Merlot class was very disappointing and over-ripe. Not much more to say about it. Thank you.

CA I have to say I think this is my fourth or fifth time judging at Old Mutual and to just endorse what Michael said. The standard does creep up every year and it was an absolute pleasure to taste and judge a lot of the wine. Brett remains a bit of a problem for me outside the classes and in fact we picked up some brett even in white classes which is quite unusual. I think cleanliness does need to be brushed up on just a tiny bit. The other thing is something close to my heart, which is appellation control. It's starting to happen by osmosis really, because are finding that you cannot simply buy a piece of ground and plant 600 different varietals and hope to make a fabulous set of 600 different wines. I found that wines that were more terroir specific were less worked and more natural, a whole lot more accessible and much more enjoyable to drink. So those wines which I think were coming from the areas where they're supposed to be grown i.e. you can't grow mielies in the Karroo - they really are sticking head and shoulder above the rest. They're just not that worked. So from my perspective, lots and lots of lovely wines. The bar has definitely been raised and if I were a wine farmer I would most definitely be making sure that I was planting the right vineyard in the right space in order to produce the right wine.

CE It's been a fun couple of days. I've been covering the wine show in a journalistic capacity since 2002 and I remember doing interviews with international judges back then and it was like "keep at it guys. Chin up! Eventually you might make some decent wine." Now it's more like "Fantastic stuff. Well done! You're contenders in the global market." So I think we've come a hell of a long way in a very short space of time. I suspect the higher medal count will be scrutinized, but I think it really is a reflection of the huge steps in quality we've made in the last ten years or so.

ST It's wonderful to be back in your beautiful country again. Firstly I want to thank Michael and his team for fantastic hospitality. When you come 14 hours on a plane and everything runs seamlessly and all done with such ease and grace. Michael thank you again to you and your team. This is a pleasure. And then we come out here and tell you guys what you're doing right or wrong. So it's a wonderful privilege.

There are four main types of wine that we've seen or judged across different categories. There are those firstly that are stuck in somewhat of a time warp with severe faults which are not acceptable and then the second type of wines are those which try to excel and be a bit more driven and then are marred by the fact that there is hardly any grape varietal definition in the wine. Then there are those wines that are highly polished, that are really quite smart and international and perhaps doesn't always say South Africa. Then there are those wines that look quite European particularly in the Chardonnays and some of the Shirazes. I would like to say that all of those, except for the first extremely faulty category, are very valid. You need to find what is true and what is in your heart and what is in your soil. Don't try and do what the French have done because it's not going to work. There's only one country called France and they're pretty annoying! Be true to yourselves. Look deep and challenge yourselves and be proud of what you're do. The other thing is that I was personally surprised by some of the really high-quality wines. These are wines that you really ought to be very proud of from any company from anywhere in the world.

On parting I'd like to say I came in under Christian as my panel Chair yesterday, looking at Pinotage. Christian said: "What are you looking for?" I said: "I've no bloody idea" and I still don't. I do know one thing and that is that Pinotage is capable of producing in many different personalities some really sublime wines and those are some delicious memories I will take away with me.

AH Again, it's a great pleasure to have flown over here and been asked to judge what for me has been a fascinating three and a half days and very pleasurable. Of course judging wines in this number is challenging, it's physically draining, but at the same time I would say, judging is hard - it's easy to sit in judgment and look at a wine for two minutes and pronounce upon it, something that's the result of at least a year's work and often a decade's work or more for the person who's made it. We all as judges have the challenge to give each wine its fairest possible chance, not to be too dismissive, but at the same time to judge sufficiently stringently that the very best wines are suitably shown up to be the very best. The same amount of effort can often go into making an exceptional wine and a rather less good wine. All wines are really the product of hard work and so it's a question really now of how intelligent that work is and whether the work is heading in the right direction.

Michael has the statistics, but in my personal experience it certainly the huge raising of the bar at the top end in South Africa over the last ten years. The work that the industry has done collectively is very evident for all to see and is really starting to pay off. That's not to say it's finished and I'm sure no-one would ever feel that about their wines and their vineyards, but the efforts are really paying dividends and the top wines are simply world class and in many styles. There is a diversity at the top that shows the potential for all sorts of styles and categories to shine and that's very exciting. I think the next challenge to prevent a polarization where the best wines carry on getting better and better and start to leave others behind - which is bad news for an industry - it is for the average to start coming up a bit. As Michael said, the low bar is also reasonably high, the number of faulty wines is pretty low. Let's now see if lessons can be learnt from those who really shine to bring up the commercials into bronze and the bronzes into silver and just re-weight the centre of gravity a little bit in the mix. I suspect the key to that is going to be vineyards. I really would echo Carrie's point that if you have vines that are maybe not in the right location for the variety, or not tended in quite the right way in the vineyard, you have to work so hard to make a good wine and that work will continue year after year every time you bring in those grapes.

The wines that really shone for me were the ones that felt the most comfortable with themselves, where the fruit and quality from the grapes was able to express itself untrammeled, uncajoled, into a style it perhaps didn't intend. Those wines where the wine-making was sufficiently transparent, where it worked in the background to serve the expression of the grapes, clearly shone through. Where a wine had to be slightly forced to fit a particular stylistic agenda, those were less successful. Very clearly, be it Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux blends with Cabernet Franc (which I think could be the ace up your sleeve - that's a fantastic secret ingredient), Rhone varieties, which I didn't judge, but had the pleasure to see some at the trophies this morning - really exciting. Yes, some Pinotage that sets a standard for that grape and puts that on a level. The potential is enormous and I hope that with enough positive feedback and enough shows like this and enough continued work over the next decade, the quality will re-double.

MF Alex, thank you.

TJ Similarly it's been a great pleasure to be re-invited to judge at this Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show again. I was here in 2002, which was the first one. It's been hard work as pointed out, but it's been good fun and for me very educational. I think any international judge always learns a lot when they come to a different country and judge and with the hospitality the judging has been very pleasurable.

Rather than philosophically, I'll comment more specifically on wines that I was on panels that we looked at. To me it's very hard to think back eight to ten years, but I drew the Semillon-Sauvignons, the Semillons, the Chenins etc on the first day, which was a bit daunting to think about. I must say the classes were very strong indeed. It's hard to remember back, but the improvement in standard I think has been quite phenomenal. Every group had wines you'd describe as having strong fruit, less of the weedy, green and nasty edges and then the best wines carry on to palates that had some good texture, good length and excellent balance. There was one trophy Sem-Sauvignon which as just remarkable. On another day I drew the other whites and you have one Verdelho, one Pinot Gris, only four Rieslings and I wondered how you could draw conclusions from so few wines, but there were some outstanding ones there and you'll see a couple of golds from those categories that I hope people look at and realize just how good they are.

So why not more of those varietals? Have a look at the people who are doing it well. Look at particularly where they're growing the grapes, because I suspect in everything we saw, we saw some good cool climate influences coming through.

Another class - jumping back to the first day - where I personally jumped up and down on the spot was for Semillon. We gave two golds, one for a very young wine, one an older wine and both were world-class excellent wines.

Moving onto the reds, I chaired the Shiraz panel and I came into this with a few words from Michael and discussion with various other people I know, expecting in the Shiraz to find quite a few problems. Coming from Australia we're meant to know everything about Shiraz and I was going to find dead fruit and high alcohols and residual sugars. Well I wrote some notes - the best wines had vibrant fruit aromatics and very good flavour intensity. There was little dead fruit, little though some vegetal characters - I hate that in Shiraz. It gets mistaken sometimes for pepper and spice, but there was little of it. Not too many over-extracted. I'd been warned about Viognier. There was judicious use of Viognier and very few overt faults. In fact I don't think we picked more than one bretty one. You have a look at the strike rate of medals in that class and I think it's probably the highest in the show. A very high percent of wines got medals and two terrific golds.

Observations within that - I could see obviously style variances between cooler and warmer growing areas, in other words the wines showing violets, pepper, spice into berry notes and those starting with berry moving into jammy into those riper characters which normally come out of the hotter growing areas. Clearly there were some with enormous alcohols, which you've just got to work out how to get away from that. 15% alcohol is just not going to fly in this world these days. We didn't see too many of those in the 08's. We saw more in the old wines. Use of oak and all that sort of thing was good so I came away very impressed by what I believe must be very good progress with Shiraz.

In the older Shiraz classes the wines were not as good. Once we got older still, brett reared its ugly head quite often and that's got me a little puzzled, because did the people who made these wines bottle with obvious brett or did they develop brett in the bottle. If they say they bottled without brett and it's now got brett, why are they not sterile filtering. You do not get rid of brett out of a cellar. You can sit and dream about your wines, but if you've got a bretty cellar you should be sterile bottling. I'm quite happy to argue that one for hours on end.

Looking at the trophy wines today there were some magnificent wines. Unknown areas to me - Pinotage, quite impressive. I drew the other red classes and got all the odds and ends, but we found some gems. There's a Malbec in there that is worth looking at, not because it's a classic big style Malbec, but it's what I would call a very vibrant, early-drinking style. The maker's done a marvelous job of handling quite fragrant fruit and turning it into something very attractive. The only negative was Merlot as has been mentioned already. We gave a respectable number of bronze medals so there were a respectable number of respectable wines, but we didn't find golds and silvers, so that's extremely disappointing. Amongst that class, compared to looking at the Shirazes, there was wine after wine that simply lacks any level of primary fruit intensity or brightness. The palates were weak. There are many wines that are just green and weedy and not any variety at all. What a difference to the Shiraz class and, I'm told, the Pinotage and Cabernet classes. So for some reason in this show this time Merlot to me was particularly weak. I shouldn't end on a bad note and really overall I was very impressed by the wines I saw.

AL I've been dubbed the veteran of this show because I've actually done it every year. I'd like to back up what my colleagues have said. I drew my favourite categories - the first day I was with Tony Jordan doing Sem-Sauvignon blends and I think you're seeing wines of real character there. There's wonderful consistency and that's what one wants, not one year really great and the next year not so great.

The Semillon class, which I'd also done last year and which was smaller last year and wasn't so impressive has regained what it is acknowledged to be here. Some really smart wines. And then Chenin on an upward bend. We did other white blends also which could be Sauvignon/Semillon with something else, or the warmer area wines where you have Viognier. They found a wonderful straight Viognier that's got a gold, I think the guys who are blending with Viognier need to take a lesson from this, because a lot of them that were said to be blends were so dominated by Viognier - big, rich, oily - and there was no complexity, no idea of something that was greater than the sum of its parts with those blends. So that was a little bit of a downside on that day.

Cabernet I did the following day and I'd like to compare it with the pinotages which I did yesterday. The pinotages again you felt they were wines coming from different areas. There was one which was my wine of the whole tasting, which I hope comes from a cooler area. It was much more Pinot like, tighter, had a nice sort of fynbos quality to it; something really individual which you felt came from where it was grown. The other ones which are fuller, richer wines also lovely characters, miles away from that old acetone, rusty nails, whatever, not over-oaked. And if the Viognier wasn't found in the Shiraz, we think some of it's come across to the Pinotage. Carefully used with some benefit, but again Viognier is a pushy bloody grape and if you put more than just a dab in and it'll overpower the grape that's really the dominant one, specially if Pinotage is on the label.

One warning: they were disappointed with Merlots and those of you who've read Wine Mag will know that we were very impressed with the overall quality of Merlot, even down to the drinking level. I think we need to be very wary of an industry of overreaction to different results, because you don't know who entered, who was in one group and who was in another group. I think it is worth taking to heart when Merlot isn't so liked, which is more common than not, but there are wines out there that are good and drinkable and if you find them, just try and follow those, see who's making them and follow up.

Cabernet I felt had less character than the Pinotage. They were all over the place; straight up and down cab and again we questioned who is using their best Cab for the Bordeaux blends, who is using just other Cab for the varietal wines. I think if you're going to make a Cabernet and a Bordeaux blend, they've got to make different statements, both really good qualities.

Port was a little disappointing in that we've set such high bars for it. There weren't bad wines, but they just didn't reach the sort of level that we've been used to and Muscatel - well there was one lovely old one. I know people don't age them, but it's just wonderful if you can lose a few bottles and keep them.

Just one other point that hasn't been mentioned - panel dynamics. Having judged for all nine years on this, some panels you sit down with you get on with really well. It's a smooth process, you're on each other's wavelengths and this I felt very much with our international judges this year. It was a real pleasure. You learnt from them, there was a wonderful harmony and you felt you'd come up with the right results because of that. It doesn't always happen, but when it does it's a real pleasure and you feel much more confident at the end of the day that the gold medals you've come up with are really worthy.

GJ This is the fourth year that I've been judging here as the winemaker judge. A lot of my panel members have said many things I wanted to say, so I'll stick to a lot of the technical stuff that I've noticed as a winemaker too and the changes over the years.

It was interesting that nobody really touched on the fact that on Sunday we had a very old wine-tasting, wines that had to have been at least 25 years in the bottle. At one stage we were looking at a line of Chateau Libertas - we had to choose between '42, '58 and '61. So when I go into a tasting and judging like this, I'm also looking, as a winemaker, at what would make this wine age 50 or 60 years. Tony's mentioned some of these things - dead fruit, incredibly high alcohol. Already on some of the older classes you're noticing the fruit is drying out. You realize that wine is never going to get better down the line.

From a technical point of view, I must say over the last four years we've definitely seen less brett. I think there may be a statistic that will come out of this, but we had very few corked wines, called for very few second bottles and I'm talking particularly in the red wine classes. So that has changed. The issue of burnt rubber was not really an issue. I'm sure there will be a few people who would like to ask the international judges what their impressions were there.

The sparkling wines are not world class, but there are some very interesting wines there and I think on the whole, as mentioned by Miguel, perhaps it's getting pushed through from the industry, but there isn't enough long time on the lees that we found, but also some of those wines are falling flat and short quite quickly and too quickly.

Pinot Noir was some very interesting wines as well. It's not a big class, but I think producers will be interested to see what came out of that, particularly with two wines. That's showing some very nice vibrant fruit and less of the funky rustic characters that can often happen with that variety.

Red blends other than Bordeaux - in many cases this was more difficult to try and that's where some of the faults do come out, not because of the varietals themselves, but I think it's because producers are pushing new boundaries, using varieties where there may be, in some cases, a little over-ripe, some portiness coming through and certainly some of the faultier wines coming out of that as well.

Bordeaux blends - Alex has also mentioned with Cabernet Franc, where well made and well used, were incredibly good and added a great dimension. Where it was done in a very weedy style, it was very obvious and very hard and green.

Pinotage blends was a very small class, but there is a wine there that is fantastic.

Shiraz - again it's my fourth year and what a revelation! Each year this class has just got better and better. Many people can remember the year that Jancis was here and I was on that panel. A few people have joined and going up to last year with Brian Croser - you've got an incredible spread of really great wines coming through in that class. As Tony mentioned, the different styles being peppery and spicy - try and ease off on those very ripe extracted styles, but we didn't see as many of them as we have seen in the past. It was a very strong, appealing class.

CA The joy of going last! I would just like to say I stand by what my fellow judges have said here today, Angela in particular saying that we did learn from every single judge that we tasted with. It was a pleasure to be here and judge with people who were so open-minded and willing to see what is good in the wines. Thank you to the producers for entering because it gives me an excuse to come back again next year to spend an enjoyable week. My most over-riding impression was that quality is on the up and particularly that technical faults are on the decrease. That made my heart very glad.

MF Before we toss this out to questions a stat which we've been in the habit of giving over the last four or five feedback sessions is the incremental use of screw cap. In white wine classes it's very well spread except in the more aged classes where there is obviously cork. We see it in white blends at nearly 50%; in Chenin unwooded at 60%; Sauvignon Blanc 50%. As you get to reds obviously the usage is much less and there is nothing like the kind of statistic you would be getting out of the Antipodes, but I suppose a lot closer to a European number. Total white wines in screw cap as a percentage is 39.45% and reds are at 10%. Having said that, it also equally clear that the cork industry has taken the message of the increased use of screw cap to heart and in the younger classes where there were second calls, it was a tiny percentage and a lot of those second calls were really in a sense to be kind to the wine. But when the wines came back there was no difference. I would guess, over the whole course of the show, there were fewer than 20-25 corked wines max. There would be perhaps 8-10 a day. What we did see is that where we had a corked wine and we apply our rule of two strikes is out, the producers that had corked wines, had plenty corked wines, which means it's either the cork supplier per se, or a bad batch and it contaminates right through a submission sometimes. There were wines that were really smart and there were two corked wines in an opening of three or four bottles which is a really bad stat from a consumer perspective, but the truth is we know it's not an average for the total production of that producer.

I think there are things that need to be teased out a wee bit. Museum classes is always a smallish entry. This year really did have some fabulous wines in white and red, not just the golds that count, but a higher than ever percentage of silver. For white wines it's not a huge threshold - it's four years or older. All other wines are eight years and more and we saw lots of them and they were really very good.

The other point that needs to be teased out and Christian touched on it - the palpable strength of the Pinotage class. When I walk in as Show Chairman and there's this kind of line-up of stuff that they want to show me for gold, I'm thinking we can't have ten Pinotage golds, we've got to knock a few of them out. The truth of the matter is that is was a really lovely class. There is a statement in the number of golds coming out of it, but one thing is absolutely clear, the days of judging Pinotage being a little bit of a penance are over. It had excitement, it has fruit sweetness, it had fewer faults than ever and it's certainly something worth discussing at greater length.

One other thing, Noble Late Harvest is usually a class in which we see lots of golds. I could not believe that there wasn't a gold to be seen. I did a quick taste just about throughout the whole class. You can't blame the panel - the golds weren't there. It is a category in which - as an industry - we generally do well, I don't know whether we didn't have the entries, or whether we've taken it too much for granted and we're making them a little too sloppily. The same is true of the younger fortifieds, where we didn't see the usually very dense array of strong contenders.

I think that is all at this stage from the panel. To the room and to questions.

Q I wanted to ask in terms of the export market, the UK in particular, what kind of styles you think you're going to be going back to the UK and trying to push?

AH It's an interesting question because of both the diversity of what's on offer here and also the diversity of the particularly crowded market that we have in the UK. There is a gross excess of choice and so really for my company and the UK in particular to succeed with South African wine, we need to find things that have a different story to tell. That could be either varietal or stylistic. Chenin Blanc and Pinotage are of course the calling cards for South Africa in international markets and are rightly successful as they don't really compete on a varietal level with other areas. In terms of the varieties where there is a greater competition - let's say Bordeaux blends, Shiraz, Sauvignon - I think the old cliché that the best wines sort of blend the best of old world and new remains true and that's actually a very attractive character. I think the degree of restraint that can be found alongside the more exuberant characteristics of the best wines here is something that South Africa offers particularly strongly and should become increasingly attractive as consumers in the UK do seek out slightly crisper, more refreshing styles, without wanting to revert to the very old school, the worst side of Europe. So I'll be looking for wines of balance, restraint and individuality in any category that I look to expand our portfolio in.

MF I can't believe there are no penetrating questions.

Q I'd like to pick up on Angela's comments about Merlot. Each year I've been here the one biggest criticism has been Merlot. Are we planting the grape in the wrong places is the first question. Brian Croser last year talked a lot about how we need to look at the right places for the right vineyards. I've tasted some pretty good Merlot, taking what you said about the Wine Magazine tastings. The question is do we need to try harder or do we just pass on it and move on to the strengths.

MF I want to pick up on that and then pass it to the panel. I don't think we have a choice - we don't pass on it. We can't. It's a component part of Bordeaux blend and if, as Brian pointed out last year, we're not doing it right, then there's a knock-on consequence for our Bordeaux blends because we are diluting their potential with Merlots that aren't right. Just to give you the stat before Gary and Tony need to be asked to speak there, there were 58 entries, there were no golds, there were no silvers, there were 14 bronzes. I have to say that's not pretty. I did look at every single one of those bronzes to see if, in my most optimistic mood, there was a chance that any of those wines was going to be pushed up to silver, even if Tony had more rubbery arms than I know he has.

TJ I'm sure Gary will be more learned than I am on this because I'm just not familiar enough with the vineyards to answer your question about vineyards. From an Australian context we have exactly the same problem. Merlot, no matter what we've tried, has been a failure. Therefore is it unsuitable for any terroir - I don't think so. I would guess the answer is in sight for sure. Second is going to be Merlot and clones. Australia has a miserable situation of only having one for ever. There are some new ones now being trialed so we don't know that outcome will be, but that could be an answer here. I just wonder about the problems you have with virus. Clones that stay clean - you can work on that. That really is a statement about growing any variety anywhere.

GJ I think viticulturally when you look at Merlot itself it's pretty easy in Stellenbosch. Even pruning to one bearer you can get 17 tons per hectare, but you do taste those wines and they're quite thin and really don't offer the kind of pleasure you'd be looking at in some of the other classes. Be that as it may, when you look at the history of clones with Overgaauw bringing in that original clone and where it's planted today, we don't have a huge array of clones. I think the Merlot 343 and 348 are infinitely more fruity and offer more pleasure and are less virused than those earlier clones, but as Tony said, it's all about site. Merlot can't take stress and stressed fruit and particularly higher cropping levels are just an absolute no no.

Q Could we talk about our wines with Asian food.

MF I think that's a really good question.

ST I think gone are the days of red wine - red meat and white wine - white meat. The world is converging far more and the Chinese and old cultures like the Greeks and Italians you get a chicken but what ends up on the plate doesn't really taste like a chicken as you know it. I think that's the wonderful opportunities that exist. Talking about it is a marketing opportunity. We could philosophise till the cow or chicken comes home but it will be my view and you'll probably disagree because we all eat and drink quite intelligently. Looking at it from a pure marketing perspective China now produced more wine than Australia domestically and imports another 26% to blend with the local product. Zero is exported, apart from your clichéd Chinese restaurants. So the Chinese drink wine. Which sort of food do you think the Chinese would eat more often? Chinese, Italian or Indian? Italian. There sits an incredible opportunity for any producer around the world to tap into a lifestyle which is new, invigorating. We can eat in China anywhere 24 hours a day. It's a national sport. More importantly, any producers looking to tap into this great bastion of promised land called China, it's a good place to be. The French are occupying the top notch and you can try to knock them off but this would be difficult. The Australians are providing a huge amount of very accessible wine. A real point of difference are the national flags like Chenin, to some extent Semillon, Pinotage - this makes a wonderful opportunity through wine pairing. Angela and I were talking about Pinotage and your country will be 15kg lighter as Joostenberg Pork is going in my suitcase. You really can use this as a wonderful opportunity to re-profile South Africa. One of the things that the wine industry isn't very good at is re-inventing the wheel. For example some of your residual sugar Chenins would be absolutely perfect with spicy dishes. The beautiful Pinotage that Christian loves so much would walk with Autumn/Winter braised dishes - it may be duck or pork belly or shins etc. Something with a little spice like Chinese roast duck with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper spices work very well to lift the fruit even more. This would give you a really good foot into the doorway of one of the most interesting markets in the world.

MF More questions.

Q Was there a rosé class?

MF There was a rosé class and there was a rosé silver which I was pleased to see. The entry was still relatively small - . We hoped for more. If you want a screw cap count that really means something, rosé was an 81% screw cap count. I have to wonder why the other 19% haven't worked that out.

Q Is there any comment on the sulphide character related to screw caps?

A We glossed over Sauvignon Blanc which is a hot category. We only got one gold out of that. Out of any panel that I sat on, we were extremely strict which is probably no bad thing. One particular problem I found was reduction on some of the Sauvignon.

Q On a panel like this do you allow for that?

A I'm a journalist, not a winemaker but I think it's over-sulphuring and bottling.

MF The wines stand for quite a long time. Panelists approach from different directions so they're not all getting the same halo effect. If it's going to blow off quite quickly it's probably not even going to get noted. If it doesn't blow off it's going to be there for long enough that it's going to be flagged and it's going to be an issue.

Q I'm interested in the question. Was it a problem in the Sauvignon Blanc class. Because certainly judging in New Zealand as I do, they make a few Sauvignon Blancs and people aren't even talking about that problem any more and it's all under screw cap.

MF I think it's probably less. Picking my way through the classes, it was much less obvious than a year or two ago.

Q ...but obviously enough for us to notice.

TJ I question whether you're looking at residual sulphide which has come up because of the so-called reductive atmosphere under the screw cap and I would point out that you can get screw caps now that have a high degree of oxygen permeability so you can solve the problem that way if you want and the issue of Sauvignon Blanc that has many sulphides in it in its varietal aromatics, including sweaty characters and various other sulphides. So what are we talking about?

Q Are there any surprise areas - areas which sit particularly well or better than you expected?

MF There is in terms of terroir.

TJ There was some very good Viognier which wasn't mentioned in our comments. Beautifully handled, restraint and structure.

AL That's why I mentioned overdoing it with the blends. People who make Viognier should really taste this one and take it to heart.

MF To answer your question - which can only be done when you look at the full set of results - I would urge those people who pore over these things to also look at the top silvers. In a sense the cut-off for gold is slightly arbitrary. It is where we feel comfortable. We argue up or down. That threshold is not set in granite and there are some really smart top silvers. The data become bigger. You're looking at say 30 golds, you'll have 20 or 30 silvers to add to that and if you're looking for discernible patterns they're likely to emerge much better if you pool those numbers and try and pick the stats out of it.

Q Were there any specifically different styles in the Sauvignon Blanc?

AH It was a surprisingly diverse class I think. I wasn't expecting so many different approaches to be taken. Sauvignon Blanc works best when it's fairly straightforward. I don't mean simple and I don't mean dilute. I mean frank and clear in pose. So the best for me are the ones that have a good varietal freshness, nice balance and a pleasure to drink. What I was quite surprised to see was that just over a quarter of the class I felt had obvious winemaking tricks that you could pick up from the first sniff. 17% of the wines I detected had a blended component of very late picked Sauvignon. When you pick Sauvignon very late you tend to get a peachy or apricot flavour which is not an unpleasant flavour, but does it fit within the structure of that early picked fruit that you then have to blend with to get a good analysis on average? No it doesn't. Go one way or the other. I think the idea of taking two very different crops at different times and from different regions and averaging them out and getting something that on the analysis looks perfect and tastes horrendous because it's two separate wines. So that was a surprise. The next one down - just under 10% - had marked lees effects, which were either masking the varietal character or potentially an attempt to make up for a lack in varietal character in the grapes to begin with. Again I think unless you're really going with concentrated fruit for a decidedly Loire style, I don't really want lees clouding the issue. Let's have lovely clean varietal fruit, picked at the right ripeness and used at a little bit under and a little bit over for seasoning, but let's get delicious simple fruit from the vineyard and let it express itself.

Q I'm curious. Could you comment about the edge South African Sauvignon has in the UK market over Kiwi which dominates the market.

AH Kiwi does dominate the market because initially the flavour impact is so big. They are hugely direct wines, very aromatic and it's also a very consistent category. It's managed a bit like Italian Pinot Grigio which is a huge thing in the UK. It tends to taste of nothing, but you know where you are with it. Consumers feel confident ordering it. It's not bone dry but it's not sweet. It's cheap and Kiwi Sauvignon's like that. It's our default white wine trade-up in the UK for consumers, because it is very very regular. Since they've recently found the banks to be less sympathetic the deals flooding out market have been extraordinary. You can see quite respectable brands on offer at £4.49, which has never really happened before since Kiwi stuff hit the market. So I think South Africa does need to differentiate. It offers potentially more sophisticated style, a little drier, a little neater, a little more classical without some of those funky characters that maybe the best of the Loire a little bit of an acquired taste. Go for purity, go for finesse, but with fruit expression you shouldn't go far wrong.

MF I'm going to wrap up the formal part of proceedings. It is a thought in the light of what is being said about "buy one get one free" in Kiwi Sauvignon Blanc that South African producers who are rightfully moaning about the fact that we have price points established in the 1990's which are now uneconomical at current exchange rates, but at least when it comes to our price points there isn't a chance of a "buy one get one free". We are right on the floor and we have a better opportunity to claw our way up.

Thank you all very much for attending. Thank you to the panelists again for the four days of truly hard work well executed. I think there is a lot to come from this. The transcript of this feedback session goes up on the Trophy Wine Show website within a week or two and from that anybody who thinks they missed a gem can come back to it.

The panelists will be milling around here for a bit and if you have more questions, let's take them from there.

Thank you very much indeed.

End

Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2011 Public tastings

http://www.winemag.co.za/page/trophy-wine-show

Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2011 Public tastings

Published: 22 Feb 11

“TENTH ANNIVERSARY PUBLIC TASTINGS CELEBRATE SA’S VERY BEST WINES”

The Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, South Africa’s most respected national wine competition, celebrates a decade of bringing the best wines to the South African wine consumer. These popular single-night annual wine tastings give wine lovers the chance to taste around 90 wines from the very best in a sizeable range of wine categories – from sparkling and Sauvignon Blanc to Pinotage and Port – with a few lesser-known varieties guaranteed to make an appearance. Highlights of the show are the unveiling of the Most Successful Producer and the Discovery of the Show.

The list of wines and producers in attendance at the public tastings are kept under wraps until 1 June when the full results of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2011 are announced.

All wines present at the tastings achieve Trophy, Gold or Silver medal awards and can be ordered at special deal prices on the night. Achieving an Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show medal is a significant accolade thanks to the intense scrutiny that each wine entry is subjected to by a panel of nine judges comprising international and local expertise.

Said Michael Fridjhon, chairman of the judging panel:

“The past decade has seen extraordinary changes at the top end of the South African wine industry and the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show played an important role in discovering new talent and showcasing this achievement”.
DETAILS OF THE PUBLIC TASTINGS:

Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 10th Anniversary Public Tasting - Cape Town
Date: Thursday, 9 June 2011 – one night only!
Venue: CTICC (The Ballroom), Convention Square, 1 Lower Long Street, Cape Town
Time: 17h00 to 20h00
Parking: Secure underground parking available in CTICC parkade.

Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 10th Anniversary Public Tasting - Johannesburg
Date: Friday, 10 June 2011 – one night only!
Venue: Sandton Sun (Maroela Room), 5th Street, Sandton
Time: 18h00 to 21h00
Parking: Secure underground parking available at the hotel and neighbouring shopping malls.

Refreshments available at the tasting.

Bookings: Tickets can be purchased via www.computicket.com or by telephoning 083 915 8000 or (011) 340 8000. Tickets are limited: ‘Early bird’ tickets bought by 5 June will cost R100 each and tickets sold thereafter and at the door (subject to availability), R120 per person. Ticket includes tasting glass, unlimited tastings and a take-home copy of ICONS, the show’s comprehensive review of all the successful wines of the year.

Bookings can be made via Computicket by telephoning 083 915 8000 or (011) 340 8000 or online: www.computicket.com.

Enquiries: (011) 482 5936. www.trophywineshow.co.za; www.outsorceress.co.za
The judging panel has been chaired by leading wine authority Michael Fridjhon since the inception of the show in 2002. The 2011 panel comprises three international judges of high standing and six local judges covering a broad range of expertise.

The international judges are as follows: from France, Thierry Desseauve is one of the founding partners (with Michel Bettane) of the La Revue de Vins du France and co-author and publisher of France’s most authoritative wine guide “Le Grand Guide des Vins de France”; from the United Kingdom, Neal Martin is founder of wine-journal.com and now The Wine Advocate’s South African reviewer and Robert Parker’s Critic-at-large; and from Hong Kong, Debra Meiburg is the founder and director of the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition as well as a celebrated broadcast and educator personality.

The South African judges are Miguel Chan (group sommelier, Southern Suns hotels), Ginette de Fleuriot (Cape Wine Master and national retail sales manager, Wine Worx/Vinimark), Gary Jordan (proprietor and winemaker, Jordan Wines), Christian Eedes (wine writer), François Rautenbach (head sommelier wine programme, Singita Lodges) and Master of Wine Cathy van Zyl. The participation of a team of associate judges, drawn from the pool of rising South African winemaking and judging talent, is included in a supportive capacity.

The Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2011 results will be announced on 1 June: for more information and a full set of results (Trophy, Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners) from 15h30 that day, visit www.trophywineshow.co.za

Hot off the press! Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show 2011 brings Neal Martin to South AfricaSaid Michael Fridjhon, chairman of the judging panel:“The past decade has seen extraordinary changes at the top end of the South African wine industry and the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show played an important role in discovering new talent and showcasing this achievement”.

Pinotage Public Tasting

Pinotage Public Tasting

Published: 20 Apr 11

Please join Wine magazine for an informative seated tasting of the top scoring wines from the 2011 Pinotage category tasting.
The tastings will be presented by De Wet Viljoen from Neethlingshof Wine Estate.

Wines included in the line-up:

Boland Cellar Reserve Paarl Pinotage No1 2009
Durbanville Hills Rhinofields Durbanville Pinotage 2009
Neethlingshof Stellenbosch Pinotage 2005 ARP
Neethlingshof The Short Story Collection The Owl Post Stellenbosch Pinotage 2009 ARP
Pella Thomas Se Dolland 2008
Rijk's Reserve Tulbagh Pinotage 2007
River Grandeur Robertson Pinotage 2009 (Viljoensdrift Wines)
Spencer Bay Olifants River Pinotage 2008 (Namaqua Wines)
Spier Private Collection Stellenbosch Pinotage 2008
Windmeul Paarl Pinotage Reserve 2009

Tickets cost R150 per person (Wine magazine subscribers pay R130) and can be booked by calling 0860 100 203 or by sending an email to subs@ramsaymedia.co.za. For more information, please contact Kathryn Steenhuisen on 021 530 3308.

In the interest of fellow tasters, please refrain from wearing excessive perfume or aftershave.

Johannesburg
Date: 12th May 2011
Time: 18:30
Venue: Sandton Sun Hotel

Cape Town
Date: 19th May 2011
Time 18:30
Venue: Mount Nelson Hotel

Durban
Date: 26th May 2011
Time: 18:30
Venue: Beverly Hills Hotel

South African Regional Trophy winners at Decanter World Wine Awards 2011

South African Regional Trophy winners at Decanter World Wine Awards 2011


White Regional Trophies


Lomond Cape Agulhas Snowbush 2009
Glen Carlou Paarl Chardonnay 2009
Allee Bleue Walker Bay Chenin Blanc 2010
Waterkloof Circumstance Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc 2009

Red Regional Trophies


KWV The Mentors Orchestra Western Cape 2008
Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Coastal Region Sauvignon Blanc 2010
Klein Constantia Estate Constantia Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Doolhof Signatures of Doolhof Wellington Pinotage 2009
Cirrus Stellenbosch Syrah 2007

Noble Late Harvest Regional Trophies

Nederburg Winemasters Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2010

South African Gold Medal winners at Decanter World Wine Awards 2011


White Blends


Cape Point Vineyards Cape Point Isliedh 2010
Quion Rock Simonsberg Stellenbosch The Nicobar 2009

Chardonnay’s


Cape Point Vineyards Cape Point Chardonnay 2009
Drostdy Hof Western Cape Chardonnay 2010
Jordan Estate Nine Yards Chardonnay 2009
Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Western Cape Chardonnay 2010
KWV Cathedral Cellar Paarl Chardonnay 2010


Chenin Blanc


Beaumont Hope Marguerite Walker Bay Chenin Blanc 2010
Longridge Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc 2010
Nederburg Winemaster’s Reserve Coastal Region Chenin Blanc 2009

Sauvignon Blanc


Lomond Pincushion Single Vineyard Cape Agulhas Sauvignon Blanc 2010

Semillon


Steenberg Vineyards Constantia Semillon 2010

White Blends


Cape Point Vineyards Cape Point Isliedh 2010
Quion Rock Simonsberg Stellenbosch The Nicobar 2009


Red Blends


Dieu Donne Vineyards Cross Collection Franschhoek Shiraz & Viognier 2008
Holden Manz Big G Franschhoek 2009
Saronsberg Tulbagh Full Circle 2008
Thelema Mountain Vineyards Sutherland Elgin Cabernet Sauvignon & Petit Verdot 2008

Cabernet Sauvignon


Fleur du Cap Unfiltered Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Longridge Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Rickety Bridge Paulina’s Reserve Franschhoek Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Malbec


Spier Mitchells Pass Western Cape Malbec 2010

Pinotage


Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Stellenbosch Pinotage 2008

Syrah / Shiraz


Rijks Estate Tulbagh Syrah 2007
Saxenburg Stellenbosch Shiraz Select 2006
Waterkloof Circumstance Stellenbosch Syrah 2008

Noble Late Harvest


Nederburg Private Bin Paarl Edelkeur 2007

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

South African Sommeliers Association on Twitter

The South African Sommeliers Association is getting ready to tweet to. The world follow SASA on "SASommeliers" on Twitter, thank you.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Thread Lightly by Backsberg Western Cape Chenin Blanc 2010 79+ Points

Thread Lightly by Backsberg Western Cape Chenin Blanc 2010 79+ Points


Clear, bright, pale straw with medium intensity, the rim has slight yellow reflections, medium viscosity with some CO2 bubbles.

Clean, medium plus intensity, youthful development, ripe Golden delicious apples, ripe yellow pears, good complexity and depth, hay, dried jasmin note, some minerality, spicy musk and slight yeasty complexity, no wood, slight cider note.

Dry with some residual sugar, medium acidity, medium bodied, apples and pears flavours follows through, with new notes of barley, spicy, medium alcohol, no wood, short to medium lenght.
For now until 2015