Blue sky thinking

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

I admit that I’m an incurable optimist and a ‘glass half full’ person – but chatting to colleagues in the wine industry recently I realised it’s not just me but there really is a lot of good news around at the moment.

There’s been a lot of silverware coming the way of South African producers of late. Bottelary wine producer Kaapzicht was awarded an International Trophy for the best red wine over £10 at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards. (To allay certain local commentators’ sensitivities, I must declare that I was a judge at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards, along with Cathy van Zyl MW and Vashti Galpin CWM.) The wine in question was the Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage 2006.

Following hot on its heels was the news that a South African red wine – in this case Haskell Pillars Syrah 2007 – also received trophies for the Best Red Wine and Best Shiraz on Show, this time at the Tri-Nations Challenge between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Life must be interesting in the Strydom household right now because Rianie (of Haskell) and husband Louis (of Ernie Els) are notoriously competitive!
SA has almost always filled the minor placings in this competition and when success has been achieved, it has usually been with white wines. I recall that both Ataraxia and Warwick have done particularly well with Chardonnay in recent years. Helping the Aussies and Kiwis ‘see red’ was Stellenbosch winery Kleine Zalze which took the trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon with its 2007 Family Reserve. Owner Kobus Basson and winemaker Johan Joubert can be supremely chuffed because they’d also just received the International Chenin Blanc Trophy and Stellenbosch White Trophy for the Kleine Zalze Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2008 at the 2009 International Wine Challenge in London. (Another expression of interest here… I judged at the International Wine Challenge too!)

The Stellenbosch American Express™ Wine Routes is also in line for a Wine Enthusiast magazine Wine Star award. It’s up against Champagne, the Rhône Valley, Russian River Valley and Valpolicella for its success in wine production, promotion and marketing.
And the cherry on top was the 35th staging of Nederburg Auction which defied the gloomy prophesies of pundits by performing better than anticipated. Distell MD Jan Scannell admitted that he was anxious total sales would not exceed the R3 million mark – but they comfortably sailed past that benchmark and totalled R4 021 920. And while this was down on both the 2008 and 2007 figures Scannell said this had to be weighed up in terms of the global economic recession. And wine auctions have been hard hit. Both the Sonoma and Napa Valley auctions recorded declines – 30% and 60% respectively, so a 16% drop is not bad!