Raise your paddle

Raise your paddle


Cape wine master Jenny Ratcliffe-Wright, and wine expert and Sommelier Miguel Chan attended the pre-auction tutored tasting of the Cape Winemakers Guild at the Nedbank offices in Sandton.

Each member of the guild makes a special wine, their best effort and puts it forward to the rest of the members.

Only the best wines get selected from there. Most wines are only 1 barrel. So if you love truly rare and unique wines, make sure you bid on the 1st of October at 9am.

Phone 021 852 0408
info@capewinemakersguild.com
www.capewinemakersguild.com

Here are Jenny’s top 10 picks: wines you simply cannot live without


1.Cape Point Vineyards Barrel fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2010
90% Sav and 10% Semillon. Beautifully mineral. Only 65 cases produced and 46 on auction

2. Teddy Hall Hendrik Biebouw Auction Reserve Chenin Blanc 2010
Prides himself in always having the longest wine name and this one won again. Lemon flavours and lovely oak

3. De Grendel Op Die Berg Pinot Noir 2010
Marzipan, clean and fresh. Delicately perfumed. Only 40 cases available

4.Hartenberg Loam Hill Merlot 2009
86% Merlot, 9% Cab, 5% Malbec, this wine is big, modern and beautiful.

5. Waterford Estate 2009 Auction Reserve BB
75% Cab and 25% Merlot from the lovely Kevin Arnold. Huge flavour and length. Grab it, only 50 cases available

6. Neil Ellis Rodanos 2007
61% Shiraz and 39% Grenache. It was aromatic, and wild and sexy

7.Haskell The Expatriate 2009
My wine of the day, made by the only female winemaker on the guild, Rianie Strydom

8.Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon Auction Reserve
Certainly the most classic Cabernet on the auction and probably in South Africa.

9.Boekenhoutskloof Syrah Auction Reserve 2009
This is made from organic grapes, but not certified (too much paperwork), from a little parcel in the Swartland

10.Cederberg Teen Die Hoog Shiraz 2009
100% shiraz, this was perfumed and elegant, from the highest vineyard in South Africa

Here are Miguel's top 10 picks


What makes a Top 10 wines out of a line’s up of 58 wines from some of South Africa’s finest site and winemakers?

Excellent purity of fruit, freshness, gentle extraction, ripe tannins, subtle oaking , balanced, aptitude for longevity, and overall complexity comparable to some of the world’s benchmark was what I was seeking for.
All wines were tasted sighted.



1.Paul Cluver Estate The Wagon Trail Elgin Chardonnay 2009 93 Points

By far the best white wine of this year’s CWG line up, this is a chiseled Burgundian profile with an impressive citrus burst, leesy richness well frame in a tight mineral core, precise and linear, athletic.

Though seductive now, will start reaching it’s full stride around 2016, if you are patient enough and have the proper cellaring facilities will peak around 2022, until 2024.

26 cases on offer

2.Cape Point Vineyards Barrel Fermented Sauvignon Blanc 2010 93 Points

Could have been the white wine of this year too, was very close, nevertheless this Graves like Sauvignon with elusive black currant leaf, grapefruit and green lime, the inclusion of 10% Semillon, lends a fullness to the mid palate, with a spicy persistent farewell, now until 2011 – 2024.

46 cases on offer

3.Flagstone Happy Hour 2009 92 Points

If there is one element that jumps out of this wine is the sandy mineral and sea breeze character, so typical of the Elim provenance of the 57% Sauvignon Blanc and 29% Semillon, with the Elgin Viognier component lending some green pineapple note and full texture, screamingly complex, now until 2024

60 cases on offer

4. Saronsberg Die Erf Tulbagh Grenache Noir 2010 92 Points

Revelation of this year’s lines up and the red wine of this 2011 auction, opulent, Satsuma plums, cedar note, with leathery richness yet well offset by a precise sappy freshness, impressive, now until 2017

26 cases on offer



5. Paul Cluver Estate CWG Elgin Pinot Noir 2010 92 Points

Fragrant, Morello cherries, Burgundian palate restraint, crunchy with a mid palate stuffing, an understated intellectual Pinot, that is starting to get together, yet have the stamina to developed even more complex note, and can be cellared until 2021

40 cases on offer

6.Spier Stellenbosch Pinotage 2009 92 Points

Some might criticize the richness and opulence of this wine, yet it conceal it’s 15.87 % ABV very well, showing ripe plums, lavender floral note, eucalyptus, a rich style with broad mouth feels, yet lively and fresh, perfect now until 2019

42 cases on offer

7. De Trafford Sijnn Swellendam Touriga Nacional 2009 92 Points

The Douro valley greatest variety, either fortified as in Port or still. Here in it’s local interpretation, this is an exciting red from the newly created ward of Malgas near the mouth of the Breede River.

Revealing pure blackberry, cassis, savoury seaweedy note, linear, best revisited around 2015, should drink well until 2019

64 cases on offer

8.Boekenhoutskloof Swartland Syrah Auction Reserve 2009 92 Points

From organically grown grapes, this Northern Rhone profile, reveal a kind of Cote Rotie style, seductive feminine texture, slight floral note, fresh, excellent purity, from now until 2021

30 cases on offer

9.Ernie Els CWG 2009 91 Points

Expert blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Shiraz and 10 % Merlot, complex blackcurrant note, ripe, graphite layers, silky tannins, lush, polished style, impressive purity, best from 2015 until 2019

70 cases on offer

10.Le Riche Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon Auction Reserve 2008 91 Points

The only member to have produce an auction wine continuously since 1985, this is a classically style Cabernet with textbook blackcurrant, cassis and graphite mineral note, cedar wood complexity, fresh and savory, pure, as great as a Cabernet should be! Now until 2021

96 cases on offer