On Saturday 7 October, the Cape Winemakers’ Guild holds their annual auction at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West. You can get more info and pre-register for the auction at their website – the auction is open to the public.
Since its inception, the Guild has vowed to stand for excellence in winemaking. Their constitution is strict about it too: any member that does not have a wine selected for the auction in three consecutive years has to forfeit his membership. It also stands loud and proud on their website that the Guild exercises “rigorous screening” of the wines put forward, where “technical excellence, premium quality and maturation potential” is demanded of the offerings. The wines also have to be different to that which the maker usually releases.
I’ve been suspicious of these claims to technical excellence in the past, with some of the wines showing questionable cellar hygiene (which makes me question their technical screening process) or excessive wood character (which makes me wonder about the message they want to send out), but happily this year’s crop of wines contain a few superb bottles and very few suspect examples. Perhaps they are becoming stricter, or perhaps it is our cellars that are realising that monster wood, for example, is not very pleasing.
Some of the wines that were standouts for me: Of the small selection of whites, the Hartenberg Dry Weisser Riesling 2005 and the Jordan Chardonnay Reserve 2005. The Hartenberg has to go to some trouble to tell us that it is a dry wine made from a noble grape, but to make it “confusing,” this wine’s been fermented and matured in barrel. It doesn’t fit into any easy categories, but it is a remarkable wine, and one that should age wonderfully. Jordan is easier to describe, they simply remain chardonnay masters.
Overgaauw DC Classic 2004 is a fine red in the old style, with good dry tannins and herbal notes to go with the well-judged fruits. Another in the classic definition of red is the excellent Grangehurst Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2000, after six years still a refined and complete wine. It is after this kind of time that the pure wines really show their charm.
Of the many shirazes in the line-up, my favourites were the Luddite “Dos Años” Shiraz 2004, a mineral wine with wonderful balance and length, and the Hartenberg Gravel Hill Shiraz 2003 (they remain shiraz masters). To round it out, some superb stickies, with Rudera’s Chenin Blanc NLH 2006 the second excellent wine from Teddy Hall for the evening, joining the Rudera Cabernet Sauvignon 2004.
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