Vinous treasures for Nederburg Auction
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
A light sprinkling of frost greeted the early media arrivals at the Nederburg pre-auction tasting in Paarl this week. It could have been a bit of a ho-hum affair, coming the day after the World Cup final when everyone realised the party in South Africa was officially over, but things soon heated up.
One of the first wines to provoke comment was a 1989 JC Le Roux Pinot Noir Methode Cap Classique. Served out of magnum and wonderfully evolved, it was a hit. It’s often used to fool folks in blind tastings, being frequently mistaken for an aged Champagne. One of the writers present wondered who had made it and, in spite of “Old Man Time” Dave Hughes being present, no-one could recall. It was later discovered that it would have been The Bergkelder’s Dr Pierre Marais.
Yesterday I congratulated him on how well the wine had held up and told him of its rapturous reception two days earlier. He immediately knew which wine I was talking about. “I got into a lot of trouble over that wine!” Turns out he was a new kid on the block at Distiller’s Corporation, having joined the company in 1988. No Pinot Noir was supposed to be made in 1989… but Marais was none the wiser and simply went ahead and made and bottled it. Because he and the wine were in disgrace, the magnums were shunted to one side (although he wasn’t – eventually retiring as the in-house technical winemaking guru). And that’s why there are 25 cases (six 1.5 litre magnums in each) available for sale at the Auction which is being held in Paarl on 3 and 4 September.
Something else that provoked comment was Chenin Blanc with three good examples set out for us to taste: Mountain Oaks Chenin Reserve 2005, Bellingham The Maverick 2006 and Stellenrust 2007. Irina von Holdt, the “Queen of Steen” as Hughes described her, made an astute comment about the styles of Chenin which received attention. Oaked Chenin, she said, should not taste like a cut-price Chardonnay. All too often SA winemakers oak it too heavily, masking its wonderful natural flavours. Her vote went to the Stellenrust 2007 for the simple reason that it showed admirable restraint in oaking. “This wine has an elegance that is remarkable. It’s beautifully soignée – so poised and elegant, with wonderful lime freshness from acidity. We need more wines like this.”
Perhaps one of the best expressions of local Chenin Blanc has been in noble late harvest guise – as Edelkeur under the Nederburg label. There are just two cases (12 x 375ml) of the 1977 available. It is gorgeous! All creamy, malty toffee with zippy fresh acidity. Its analysis shows that 146g/l of residual sugar is balanced beautifully by an acidity of 9,9g/l. Another unique treasure to fall under the gavel of new auctioneer, Anthony Barne of Bonhams, is the 1988 Nederburg Eminence – the last wine made by South Africa’s sweet wine pioneer, Gunther Brözel. Also only a few cases of that are available – five cases by 12, also 375ml bottles.
Based on the tasting of reds and whites dished out to the media this week – and replicated for the public too – the 2010 chapter of the Nederburg Auction should provoke renewed interest on the part of writers and buyers alike.