The Week That Was

I would like to share two items with you this week, the first one being the International Wine Challenge results which were published in London;  and secondly, an interesting wine tasting at Vergelegen.

If the amount of energy spent discussing tastings and tasting results were converted into marketing and sales, we might all be sold out of our wine. There is always a debate into which tasting competitions one enters wines. I do not enter many competitions, but find the London International Wine Challenge to be relevant in the sense that the UK, being a non producing market, is probably exposed to more wines than most other countries in the world, and therefore their assessment is always interesting.

I was pleased, therefore, to see that at this year’s Challenge, both the Withington Chardonnay and the Withington Shiraz Cabernet were awarded a “Commended” certificate. Sure, this is not Trophy nor Gold medal stuff, but it indicates clearly that a wine that is produced for “everyday drinking for the discerning wine lover” certainly seems to fit that ticket. Of course, the thing that does put things a bit more into perspective, is a wine like the Ernie Els, costing ten times the price, but receives the next notch up, namely a Bronze medal! Lower down on this web page, you will come across an article I have written on “perception and reality” and therefore, I lift my hat to Ernie Els, who have been incredibly successful in creating a perception of a wine and a price to match.

My second item is an interesting tasting I attended yesterday, of the Vergelegen wines. Neither Vergelegen nor winemaker André van Rensburg, exactly hide their light under a bushel…they are a high flying winemaking outfit and with wines to boot. The line up is impressive, with the top end spot being taken by the Vergelegen “V” and, on the local market anyway, priced almost twice as much as the superb Vilafonté wines! Another “perception and reality” debate on this one. What was interesting, was not only to taste some Sauvignon Blanc of more than a year old, but also to hear the winemaker’s comments that this wine should get even better another year down the line…markedly in contrast to the popular belief that Sauvignon Blanc should be drunk literally as soon as possible after harvest. The highlight red wine for me, was a simply stunning Cabernet Sauvignon, showing real elegance and class and absolutely none of the “greenishness” shown by so many of our Cabernet Sauvignons. Well done André!