Cape Winemakers Guild Auction

Cape Winemakers Guild Auction

The first Guild Auction took place in September 1985 in Rosebank, Johannesburg, in association with Sotheby’s with seasoned wine auctioneer David Molyneux-Berry who would preside over the first seven Guild Auctions all held in Johannesburg, tasked with selling the wines.

Walter Finlayson, who was manager of the Guild’s first six auctions, recalls the nervous anticipation leading up to that first auction and describes the bidding process as “very exciting”.
Renowned auctioneer, Stephan Welz teamed up with Sotheby’s to host the auction in 1988. Nedbank American Express sponsored the last two Johannesburg auctions  in 1990 and 1991.

Back then already the preceding auction week created a great sense of excitement, with a “family-like” atmosphere as families played golf and attended the Stephan Welz dinner, drawing great interest from winemakers and local residents.
Today still, the preceding auction week creates a hive of activity with the Guild Sports Day where the public can join members for a game of golf or boules or attend dinners with the winemakers at winery restaurants.
   

In 1992, the Guild Auction moved to Cape Town under the management of Robin Grier, late father of longstanding Guild member, Jeff Grier, with well-known South African wine personality, Dave Hughes, conducting the auction.
For the next five years, the Michael James Organisation took charge of the auction before handing over the gavel to the Guild’s current auctioneer, Henré Hablutzel of Hofmeyr Mills in 1998.

1996 saw the start of a 17 year association with Nedbank, who became the official sponsor of the Cape Winemakers Guild and its Auction. It was not until 2000 that the Guild changed its name, under the chairmanship of Carl Schultz, from the Cape Independent Winemakers Guild to Cape Winemakers Guild.

This opened the door to prominent winemakers employed by the larger organisations to become members of the Guild. Carl recalls how the lifting of sanctions in the post-democracy years brought about a new buoyancy in the market and the word “independent” began to lose its value as trading opened up.

In the 1990’s, which heralded major transformation and the end of sanctions against South Africa, international buyers began showing an interest in the Guild Auction and by 1999, 50% of all the auction purchases came from overseas buyers. Today the interest from local buyers exceeds the international contingent with 70% of the total auction sales of over R5-million going to local buyers in 2011.

Despite the huge success of these auctions, Etienne le Riche states that it was not intended for the Guild to have any commercial function and that the auction was incidental, and secondary, to those primary objectives of the Guild, namely to elevate the quality standards of South African winemaking and to gain international recognition.

All wines that go under the hammer at the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction are made exclusively for the auction by members of the Guild.

Until 2010 wines were selected meticulously by a tasting panel but under the Chairmanship of Louis Strydom, new selection criteria were adopted the following year in an effort to boost creativity and achieve greater diversity of wine styles. In terms of the new criteria members themselves can now decide whether or not to submit a wine for the auction provided it is free of any technical defects and the highest standards of wine health measurement are met.