It was rainy and wet throughout but the 316 judges assembled from 48 countries were understanding as the northern part of Portugal (Guimaraes is about 40km northeast of Porto) has been in the grip of a drought and the rain was desperately needed.

Competition director Thomas Costenoble revealed that final entries stood at 8 397 wines and spirits from 52 countries. The results were announced on May 15 – with a total of 2 435 medals awarded. South Africa occupied sixth place on the overall medals table with 98 gongs behind France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Chile.

South Africa was awarded six grand gold medals, 27 golds and 65 silvers overall. Grand golds are awarded to wines that score 95 points out of a possible 100 – and a panel of between five and seven judges have to be unanimous in awarding it that score.

The grand gold winners were Cirrus Syrah 2008, Cirrus Syrah 2009, Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2009, Savanha Naledi Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 from Spier and Cloof’s The Very Sexy Shiraz 2009. The sixth grand gold went to Distell’s Klipdrift Gold brandy.

There’s a distinctintly noticeable vintage success – with 2009 living up to its top billing as one of the greatest vintages in recent decades. Also interesting to note is how well Shiraz performed with three of the top five being made from the popular grape.

A release which caused a stir and made headlines in Afrikaans newspapers was that of former clergyman Bertus van Niekerk, a garagiste from Somerset West who makes wine in his spare time. He took a page out of the Bible – and launched his Revelations 6:4 by taking the verse literally – and having a naked bareback rider astride a horse and smiting a mighty sword!

Other than the fact that it was a white horse and not a red one and a woman rather than a man as the good book stated, the other noteworthy thing was that the wine itself is a Cinsaut, the humble grape once crossed with Pinot Noir to create Pinotage.

“You can’t buy the sort of publicity that he got,” said Teddy Hall, a winemaker renowned for his love of Chenin Blanc who attended the launch. “He’s got me rethinking Cinsaut!” So what’s the wine like? “Honestly? I thought it was like the old Hamilton Russell Pinot Noirs when they were made with the BK5 clone – super-juicy and delicious. If you gave that wine to me in a blind tasting I would have said it was an old-style South African Pinot Noir.”

Hall said he had no idea whether the wine would last two years or 10. “But if I had a case or two of it, it wouldn’t last more than a month! It’s so yummy and delicious that I’d be hard-pressed to keep any!”

Interestingly, the link to Pinot Noir and ageability is what kick-started one of the Cape Winemakers Guild’s first protégés, Howard Booysen’s, Cinsaut search too. “I was looking for Pinot Noir fruit to vinify and couldn’t get the quality I wanted – so I decided to go with Cinsaut since it was one of the ‘parents’ of Pinotage.” His first 6 500 bottles of 2011 has almost sold out and it’s been so well received that he’s upped production in 2012.

Viticulturist Rosa Kruger pronounces herself “highly excited” by the grape. “Some of our oldest vineyards are Cinsaut and if cropped at the right levels and with good attention to viticulture, they are capable of producing outstanding wines. But it’s essential you get it right in the vineyards.”

In her opinion, Cinsaut provides the best expression of South Africa’s climate. She warned, however, that it was a grape not suited to cool climate areas. It needs heat to bring out the best fruit expression. Eben Sadie echoed her sentiments. “It’s the grape which has adapted best to the local conditions but the farming of Cinsaut is critical. It’s always a challenge as a young vine and takes a few years before it starts producing at its best – but then that young vine fruit can be used for rosé.”

Sadie’s 100% Cinsaut from 47 year old vines, Pofadder, which forms part of his Ouwingerdreeks is especially close to his heart and he said it’s the most challenging to work with. “I made a lot of Cinsaut in my early days as a winemaker because those days Cabernet and Merlot weren’t as common as they are now. Also it’s got such a fantastic history in South African wine, having been used in old Rustenbergs and other fantastic blends. Swartland Co-op used to make an unbelievable Cinsaut – and these wines aged incredibly well. The grape’s got a very interesting tannin structure – even though it doesn’t necessarily deliver that deep colour of other grapes – but those tannins mean it can last and age very well.” Most of his fellow Swartland revivalists believe in the grape and use it in their red blends. “Nobody here talks about it any more because it’s just such an automatic inclusion because of what it adds to a blend,” Sadie said.

Booysen’s view mirrors that of Sadie. He paid tribute to Vergenoegd and the KWV for making good Cinsaut “back in the day”. “I had some old bottles of their wines from the 80’s that had aged incredibly well and were still drinking nicely – so it’s obvious that it’s capable of ageing. “Everyone thinks that Cinsaut equals Tassies (Tassenberg) and plonk but ultimately I want to change that thinking so that people realise it’s got the potential to make good quality and age well.”

Expressive fruit was one of the primary criteria for Booysen’s wine. “I’ve tried to make it fruit forward and very accessible – which is fairly easy with Cinsaut – and the bonus is that it is only 12.5% alcohol. It’s so drinkable and customers love it! It’s sad that almost no-one bottles Cinsaut anymore.”

The Howard Booysen Cinsaut sells for R55 a bottle while Van Niekerk’s Revelation, being made in minute volumes, is R200 and the Pofadder is part of the Ouwingerdreeks which sells for around R3 500.

• In an interesting      footnote: Van Niekerk specified in his invitation that places were limited      to the first 20 folk to respond positively. Reports from those there were      that many wanted to attend but were somewhat scared off by the fact that      it took place at a ‘clothing optional’ naturist resort!
• The Cambridge edition of      the King James Bible relates that the Revelations 6:4 verse reads as      follows: “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was      given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they      should kill one another: and there was given unto him a mighty sword.”

The frequent criticism of Merlot in the local context is that it displays green vegetal and leafy flavours and lacks generosity of fruit – something which is hard to reconcile with the consumer perception that Merlot is easy to drink and approachable, a soft and gentle wine for red wine beginners.

Holden Manz winemaker Karl Lambour said he’d been blown away by the potential quality of the Merlot. “The berries have been really small but with beautifully ripe, super-polymerised tannins” he said. “We are seeing anthocyanin levels which are stupendous! They’ve got Andy Roediger going ‘Wow!’ which is really something.” (Cape Wine Master Andy Roediger did his thesis on anthocyanin levels and phenolic ripeness as an indicator of ultimate wine quality.)

Fellow Franschhoek winemaker, Irene Waller at La Bri also had nothing but praise for Merlot. “Merlot gets a lot of stick for green flavour but we’re not seeing it this year.” Lambour attributed the ripeness to additional time on the vine with harvest being a week to 10 days later than usual. “Everyone thinks Franschhoek is hot because we get heat spikes in February – and they’re higher and hotter than elsewhere because the whole valley is in a cauldron surrounded by mountains, but they don’t last long.” He also said the nights had been cool.

Cool nights providing a respite for the grapes is what James Downes of Shannon Vineyards in Elgin honed in on when asked for his opinion of Merlot in 2012. “We had a cool start to the vintage with slow ripening – a bit of heat wave in January but the Merlot hadn’t gone through veraison at that point so it wasn’t really affected but it’s the cool nights in February which have been stunning.”

Downes said there were 14 nights in February where temperatures of below 13 degrees were logged. “In fact the coldest night was on February 15 when we logged 8.8 degrees. And that’s usually a month when you battle to sleep at night because it’s so hot!” Along with that Downes praised the lowish alcohols, good sugars and low pHs. “I’m very very happy.”

The small berried bunches, high ratio of skin to fruit and ripe tannins was something else consultant winemaker Mark Carmichael-Green praised. “Some of the best Merlot I’ve seen in years.”

Further afield, Tulbagh winemaker Dewald Heyns of Saronsberg said he was “cautiously optimistic”. “You know me, I’m always sceptical and negative about the wine until the end of the year when it’s been in the cellar for a while and is truly starting to show its colours – but…all the Bordeaux varietals looked phenomenal. Last year was probably the best Merlot I’ve made in my career – and with hindsight I should probably have given it a bit more time on the vine.” Positive factors for Heyns? Smaller berries and ripe tannins at lower sugar levels. “I even adjusted the gaps on my sorting tables to accommodate the smaller berries.”

In Stellenbosch, Meerlust’s Chris Williams said it was a little early to make pronouncements but his experience had been that Merlot tasted wonderful in the vineyard but really needed “a year or two for those edges to show.”

Williams said he was pleased with the analyses of the grapes he’d taken in. “All the indicators for good potential are there”. He prounounced himself happy with ripeness and sugar levels as well as the consistency of the ripening.

Hillcrest is regarded as one of Durbanville’s top Merlot producers and winemaker Graeme Read said the slow ripening had been a good thing. “I’m quite happy. It’s a bit lighter in body than in previous years but the wines we’ll make will be fruit-driven, with good colour and the really interesting thing is that everyone’s talking about the naturally lower alcohols on Merlot this year.”

Nobody’s talking “vintage of a decade or lifetime” here, but there is optimism about – and, for once, it’s potentially good news about Merlot.

The ever energetic Chenin Blanc Association hosted a tasting of ‘winter wines’ at the spectacularly located Delaire Graff wine farm this week.

“We called it the winter wines tasting because we are aware of media deadlines and also because these are wines made in the richer, riper style,” said Chenin Blanc Association kingpin Ken Forrester.

In the lineup were 25 still wines, whittled down by an Association tasting panel from more than 55, and four spectacular dessert wines. Vintages on display ranged from 2011 to 2006. It was interesting to see how remarkably different the wines were. Levels of perceived acidity, fruit spectrum and expression, residual sugar and sweetness varied with the most noticeable element of all being the wooding.

Naturally, as richer, riper styled wines these have had greater exposure to oak but the subtlety of the wooding and the resultant impact on the final wine was fascinating. For some it was very apparent not just in terms of its contribution to flavour – vanilla/butterscotch/creaminess – but also with regard to mouthfeel, texture and resultant size of the wine.

While the tasting demonstrated the massive strides that this humble grape has taken in the past 15 years it was over lunch that its versatility was truly showcased.

Indochine restaurant is attached to the luxury boutique hotel at Delaire Graff and sports markedly different views to the main restaurant and patio area. It looks northwest, over Stellenbosch with the Simonsberg on the right flank while the latter peers down the valley to the east, with the Simonsberg on the left and the craggy rockfaces of the Drakenstein mountains on the right.

As the name indicates, Indochine takes its influence fromAsia– and the five-course meal was superb. People were free to match the wines tasted earlier to the various dishes – a deliciously fiery tom yum goong soup, red duck breast curry, seafood medley redolent with green and red chillies and fennel with a delicate sweet/sour balance and a wasabi and lime panacotta which had all sorts of zingy flavour elements – like passionfruit jelly.

No other grape variety could have done justice to these assertive flavours. Our table ran through an assortment wines and rejected them because they are just not capable of adapting.

Versatility and flavour set Chenin Blanc apart.

From Tassies Last year was an impressive one for Zonnebloem – and I’m not talking about 2011 vintage. It was Zonnebloem’s wines dating from as far back as the 1950s that made the headlines.

First in the news was a Cabernet Sauvignon 1959 tasted at a dinner welcoming the international judges to the annual Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, apparently knocking even the wine famously described as South Africa’s one true classic off its perch (the GS Cabernet 1966).

UK-based judge Neal Martin, who rates SA wines for influential American magazine The Wine Advocate, said that the Zonnebloem had given him a completely new perspective on South Africa. “If you had put that in a line-up of 1959s from Bordeaux, it would have knocked most of them out of the field,” he marvelled.

Then came the 2011 Nederburg Auction, where a case of six half-bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon 1961 went under the hammer for R5,500, equal to R2,444 per litre. A relatively youthful Cabernet Sauvignon 1971 fetched R10,000 for a case of six bottles of 750ml, the equivalent of R2,222 a litre.

So one way and another, I felt extremely privileged when Zonnebloem invited me to a tasting of some of its prized old Cabs, including the 1964, 1974 and 1982 vintages.

What made the occasion even more special is that it was presented by Cape Wine Master Duimpie Bayly, who was personally involved in making some of the oldest wines.

“This is the 50^th year of my relationship with Zonnebloem,” he revealed. “I started at Stellenbosch Farmers Winery in 1962 as a lab assistant, a cellar rat, so my knowledge of Zonnebloem’s history is pretty good – and I can tell you that some of the wines have matured a lot better than I have!”

First fascinating snippet was that Zonnebloem was intended as a flagship in the SFW range. Where Tassenberg cost 22c a bottle circa 1960, Zonnebloem cost 60c. (Today the “standard” Zonnebloem reds retail for between R59 and R64 a bottle.)

Then Duimpie revealed a bit about making Cab in the early days. “There was no certification until 1973 so we worked on credibility. If we said it was Cab, it was Cab. But it was probably a lot of Cinsaut too,” he laughed, “plus any other red varieties available to us – often Port varieties because we didn’t have Cab Franc or Merlot then.”

Duimpie said the vines were “bosstokke” or bush vines. “They had a lot of leafroll virus so the sugars weren’t high, but the grapes were still ripe when we harvested them – not that we had a fancy method of measuring ripeness, just taste.”

The low sugar levels resulted in low alcohol – typically around 11%. “I’m often asked how it is possible that wines with alcohol below 12% have aged so well, and I think it’s partly to do with the high total sulphur content – around 190mg/l whereas our law now states a maximum limit of 150mg/l for reds (one of the lowest limits for total sulphur in the world).”

Sulphur dioxide is a powerful antioxidant, but Duimpie has a few other theories about the ageability of the early wines. “If you take the 1964, the acidity was 5.76g/l and the pH of 3.57 was low, very nice for a red wine. In my opinion this high acidity helped with preserving the wine and protecting against bacteria.”

Apparently the SFW winemakers followed a recipe:  “We worked on one jam ‘blik’ (jar) of tartaric acid per leaguer (127 gallons).”

But in fact analysis showed that the 1964 even had some malic acid (i.e. the fairly punchy fruit acid that hasn’t undergone malolactic fermentation to soften into lactic acid). “We only started doing malo in later years because were worried the wines would otherwise referment in bottle, and today we do it because we believe it gives the wine more complex flavours. But I definitely think the malic acid also helped with longevity of the older wines.”

Residual sugar in the 1964 was 1.4g/l, with Duimpie revealing that sugar-free extract was 28.9g/l. “Sugar-free extract is a good indication of how long the juice has been left on the skins to extract tannins etc; a measure of how full-bodied the wine is. Today sugar-free extract is usually around 25.”

The wine was then placed into the big barrels at SFW’s Adam Tas cellar for 12 to 15 months. “We also placed a lot of emphasis on bottle maturation in those days, not to mention that sales were not great…”

The unsold stock, decades later, was good news for last year’s Nederburg Auction bidders, though the prices reached mean that there is now very little left – a fact that made me appreciate my taste of the 1964 all the more with its still-lively fruits as well as prunes, dried apricots, field mushrooms, fynbos and a slight medicinal portiness.

The 1974 was a softer wine, erring on the side of jammy – perhaps because winemakers were still adjusting to having better vine material planted on trellises. “We also picked riper, giving us higher sugar and higher alcohol levels,” recalls Duimpie.

ABV was 13% with a residual sugar of about 2g/l and sugar-free extract of 30g/l.

“We still followed more or less the same recipe, although our methods were a bit more scientific. For example, we worked in grams and litres rather than jam blikke!”

From 1973 winemakers also had to be more precise about labelling their wines correctly. “In those days could call the wine Cab as long as it contained at least 30% Cab, not 85% as is the case today.”

It was only in the early 1980s that small barrels were introduced, although Duimpie reveals that most of the Zonnebloem wines still went into large casks. Lighter-bodied and not as intense as the two older wines (perhaps because sugar-free extract was a mere 26g/l?), the Cabernet Sauvignon 1982 had dark cherry and fruitcake flavours as well as some porcini savouriness and Blue Gum notes, with an ABV of 11.6%, RS of 2.1g/l and pH of 3.54.

More recently – at least since the 2000 vintage with its 14.6% ABV – the “recipe” has called for ripe grapes from virus-free vines, the juice given skin contact for 10 to 12 days. “The parcels are all fermented separately, then selections are made and blended into a 50:50 combination of stainless steel tanks and new 300l barrels,” says Duimpie.

Current cellarmaster Deon Boshoff and his team are well aware of the brand’s proud heritage and reputation for longevity. “While taking Zonnebloem into a new era, we have to carry on the tradition, so there won’t be any radical changes. We want people to taste more fruit flavours, a modern freshness, but the wines must be balanced and elegant with endurance potential.”

He concludes: “At Zonnebloem we work to the principle that quality takes time but that excellence takes a little longer.  Knowing that wines produced by our predecessors are held in such high esteem is an inspiration for today’s team.”

written by:

Joanne Gibson

South Africa, which boasts the continent’s largest economy, needed to do more business with the rest of its neighbours in order to “better position itself as Africa’s economic gateway”, he said. “To succeed in this environment, we have to seize the opportunities presented by this changing world,” Gordhan said in Cape Town on February 22.

Quite coincidentally I’d chatted to a local winemaker who had just returned from a four day sales trip to Lusaka, Zambia. “It was unbelievable,” he said. He likened it to South Africa 30 or 40 years ago in that the first few shopping malls and large developments are just beginning to take hold. Many South African corporates have obviously recognised the possibilities offered by countries such as Zambia. Shoprite, Spar, Mr Price, Sterns, Wimpy, News Café, Pick n Pay, Woolworths and even Ster Kinekor have a presence. “When I was in the malls it felt like being in Cape Town or Johannesburg!”

Just weeks ago Zambia shocked the rest of the continent and the footballing world by winning the Africa Cup of Nations tournament ahead of more favoured opposition Ivory Coast, a side packed with Premier League stars. But Zambia has more going for it than football. The country of 12.5 million inhabitants had an inflation rate of 30% in 2000. Just over a decade later it is in the low single digits with the World Bank having declared it one of the world’s fastest economically reformed countries. It has massive potential – as do Angola, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, DRC, Ghana and more.

The winemaker was in Zambia to sell wine. “And it’s doing rather nicely too. I can see myself having to spend more time servicing this market because we’re growing which is fantastic.” It’s a predominantly urban market, obviously, and the taste is relatively unsophisticated with a distinct preference for sweeter wines. But is that any different to some of South Africa’s urban markets – or the popular taste three or four decades ago?

“And the people are just so fantastic too – really friendly, well spoken, accommodating and humble. Zambia was a very pleasant surprise. I look forward to my next sales trip.”

“We don’t often do this sort of thing,” he said (with typical understatement) to a select group of wine retailers and writers at a low key tasting last week, “but we want to get across what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”

Sijnn is the Khoi word for river – since Trafford’s new vineyards are near the Breede river near Cape Infanta on the Cape’s south east coast. “The pronunciation and spelling of Sijnn varies. One expert said it was ‘sin’, another ‘sane’ – as in insane… and we go with the latter! There have been a few moments when we’ve thought we’re mad to have tackled this…”

His partners in this venture are wife Rita, Simon Farr of Bibendum and Durban-based wine enthusiast Quentin Hurt. What makes Sijnn so interesting within the South African wine context is that this team are a bit like Captain Kirk and the crew of the startship Enterprise – boldly going where no-one has gone before.

It was the stony soil and relative dryness of the area (around 350mm of rainfall annually) that saw him initially aim to produce a Rhône or Chateauneuf du Pape-styled wine. Hence the planting of Shiraz and Mourvèdre – but he also decided to plant Portuguese grapes Trincadeira and Touriga Nacional along with some Cabernet Sauvignon. On the white side there is Chenin Blanc and Viognier. Still in the pipeline are Roussanne, Grenache and Tempranillo. In total there are 16 hectares under vine at present but there is patently room to grow.

The interesting thing about the tasting Trafford conducted was the component parts – and then a vertical of the final blend. The Trincadeiro offers wonderfully expressive fruit – as does the Touriga, while the Mourvèdre is spicy, the Shiraz peppery and restrained. By contrast, the Cabernet Sauvignon shows a marked leafy “green” character – but does make a contribution to the blend by toning down some of the overt plummy fruitcake notes of the Portuguese grapes.

The maiden 2007 (and 2008 and 2009) were driven by Shiraz and Mourvèdre with them making up nearly 70% of the final blend but with the 2010 and 2011 the Portuguese varietals take on more than mere bit parts. In the 2010 Touriga is 27% and Trincadeira 10% while in the 2011 which is still doing its thing in large 700-litre older oak barrels it’s 19% and 6% respectively.

Obviously the wines and the enthusiasm were exciting to witness but everyone present reflected on whether we were seeing the birth of another South African wine producing area. On the basis of less than five years of production, Malgas shows distinct promise – and hats off to Trafford and his fellow pioneers.

Arrayed in ranks on long tables in the conference centre were all the South African wines which were adjudged trophy winners, best in class, gold or silver medallists. Additional appeal was added by the top table of international trophy winners brought in by competition director Frances Horder.

Early comers made a beeline for the top table to taste the best wines of the competition: NV Champagne (Cuvée Trianon, France), Single Vineyard White (Two Sisters Vineyard Riesling 2007, New Zealand), Sauvignon Blanc (Cono Sur 20 Barrels Ltd Edition 2010, Chile), Semillon (McGuigan Bin 9000 2006, Australia), Sherry (Harveys VORS Palo Cortado 30YO, Spain), Pinot Noir (Peregrine Pinot Noir 2009, New Zealand), Shiraz (Saltram No. 1 2002, Australia), Single Vineyard Red (Caape naturaliste Vineyard Torpedo Rocks Cabernet Merlot 2009, Australia), Cabernet Sauvignon (Trapiche Finca Las Palmas 2007, Argentina), Dessert wine (Jackson Triggs Okanagan Estate Proprietor’s Reserve Riesling Icewine 2007).

Hot ticket items were the two white wine trophy winners from SA – the Chardonnay trophy which went to Spier Private Collection 2009 and the Chenin Blanc trophy which was Kanu’s KCB 2007. Everyone had their own ideas about the merits of individual wines but it was great to see the interest from local winemakers. After all, so much of good winemaking is tasting – both your own wines as they progress through the various evolutionary stages and the competition’s, be it domestic or foreign!

Strong classes were the Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc blends, Bordeaux Style and Cabernet Sauvignon blends as well as the sweet wines with natural sweets such as Vin de Constance and Meerendal’s Chenin Blanc 2009, and noble late harvests such as Fleur du Cap’s 2010, Nederburg’s Edelkeur and Eminence not only faring well but being exceptionally popular among attendees.

“There’s 30% compound growth in the value end of the market – wines like our First Lady which sell for around R60. That ticks over quite nicely.”

What raised his eyebrows was the “really strong growth” in the top end – wines selling above the R250 a bottle mark. Warwick Trilogy is R275 and the Vilafonté wines – Series C and Series M are R479 and R350 respectively.

Vilafonté Series C – the Cabernet-led red blend – sells out in less than six months while the Merlot-led Series M takes a full year to reach the same sold-out status.

Once again this demonstrates two maxims which form the bedrock of marketing folks’ strategies: to over deliver on quality at lower price points and secondly, that high-ticket items are essentially recession proof. When people want luxury goods and can afford them, they buy them. And that includes Aston Martins, designer handbags, fashion, watches and the like.

“The other thing is to tie your wines in with limited volume, high-end brand extensions,” Ratcliffe said, “That’s the place to be…”

It appears that the festive season has been a good one for South African wine farms with foot traffic through the wine tasting room doors up on 2010.

I drove around Stellenbosch with holidaying friends from Johannesburg in early January. It was really enjoyable getting to see the winelands from their perspective and visiting some wineries that I haven’t been to in some time.

It gave me the opportunity of assessing the wine tourism offering as a fly on the wall.

They were visiting the various cellars for the first time so there were no preconceptions: everything was fresh and new. My point of view was obviously informed by a bit of background knowledge.

The first thing that struck me was how late many venues open their doors to the wine tasting public. It appears that 10am is the popular favourite with fewer opting for a 9am start. I guess the general wisdom is that visitors to the winelands don’t exactly leap out of bed early to face up to a glass of wine at 8am or so!

And the few we visited that opted for the earlier start were still tidying up and getting ready for visitors.

While bottles weren’t always fresh, having been opened the day before, as soon as they realised the tasters knew what they were doing and were fairly serious about what they were tasting, this changed.

South Africans are known for their generosity and the wine farms were no exception. While the little notice on the counter might say five wines for R30 or three wine for R45, as soon as a bit of interest and knowledge was displayed, it became a case of “why don’t you try this? No charge… We’re quite proud of it.”

It must be said that one of the wineries had very accommodating and enthusiastic tasting room staff but the interaction was a touch robotic. Of the “this wine is XYZ, the grapes come from ABC, it spent X months in (French/American) barrels and you should find flavours of blah blah blah”. By contrast, one other winery engaged with the tasters. “Where are you from? Have you enjoyed your holiday? What other wine farms have you visited? Which wines have you like so far?” A clever and subtle way of drawing out the tasters and assessing their willingness to interact and their level of wine knowledge.

Being with wine inclined friends meant that we appreciated the latter approach. That’s not to say there isn’t merit in the former: it would be more than acceptable to the average ‘we’re in the Cape on holiday and one day will be spent doing the wine route’ visitor or the novice drinker.

But it made me think: what could be achieved if all the experiences were of the engaging kind? The sort where there’s an intelligent walk through a range of wines that could potentially break down the barriers to entry for wine novices and really get them enthused and turn them into eager experimenters, unafraid of venturing untutored opinions.

Overall it was a fabulous day out in the winelands – a little frustrating perhaps in that we only managed to do four wineries and a brandy distillery tour (which was excellent and quite possibly the highlight of the day) but it left us all keen to explore more.