I have often wondered why South African winemakers don’t take part in the Vinitaly Wine Show, which is certainly one of the biggest and best attended in the world.
At the judging of entries for this year’s competition, 105 judges from all over the world spent a week in Verona, assessing more than 2300 wines from 23 wine producing countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Spain, Slovenia, Brazil and Israel.
None from South Africa.
Vinitaly must be one of the most stringently selective competitions in the world, with only three percent of the entries receiving any medals at all.
I was invited to be on the judging team this year and was interest to note some of the differences and some of the similarities in the organization and judging of the competition, compared with South African wine competitions.
Most marked difference is that the entries are classed by style, rather than by grape cultivar. So we have classes like “still white wines, refined in wood,” and “not older than two years from vintage,” and “semi-sparkling white and rose wines.”
Under this classification system you get, for example, Chardonnays competing with Semillons and Sauvignon Blancs. Cabernets compete against Merlots and Shirazes.
I believe our Cap Classique sparkling wines could do very well on this show, as could our natural sweet dessert wines.
During the judging I kept thinking: “I know several South African wines that could blow this class right out of the water.”
Why were we not there?
One of the interesting features of the Vinitaly judging was the strict discipline of it all.
The wines are assessed in total silence, one at a time, and judged on the 100 point system. Wines are presented to the judges by a team of professional sommeliers, and four minutes are allowed for each wine. Only 10 wines are served in a session, then there’s a break before the following 10. By the end of the competition every wine has been assessed by at least two judging panels.
All red wines older than five years are decanted in front of the judges before being poured.
Vinitaly offers an opportunity to meet wine producers and wine journalists from all over the world. The panel on which I served consisted of two Italian winemakers, a Japanese wine writer, a Czech Republican wine journalist and myself.
During the week of judging I formed good ties with Swedes, Hollanders, Americans and Croatians.
The language of the event is, of course, Italian, but there was always an interpreter on hand to translate speeches and announcement into English, which seemed to be understood by the majority of non-Italians.
I strongly believe our wine industry would benefit from participation in Vinitaly. Quite apart from the chance of winning awards, there’s an opportunity to forge new links with winemakers and wine journalists from all over the world.
Are we too afraid to enter a competition where only three percent if entries receive medals? Where’s our competitive spirit?

Photograph: David Biggs

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Nobody doubts that South Africa produces some of the world’s greatest wines.
Our wines have grown in stature and are now respected by connoisseurs throughout the world.
Locally, however, our wine culture lags rather far behind that of other wine producing countries.
One of the reasons for this is that we still have a strange idea that waiting in restaurants is a job for students or those who can’t find a “real” job.
Many restaurateurs simply don’t recognize the importance of good waiting staff.
The reality is that the waiter – or wine steward, or sommelier – is the front-line soldier in any restaurant’s battle for survival.
Diners hardly ever meet the owner – or the chef – of a restaurant. They always meet the waiter. A good waiter can bring customers back again and again. A poor waiter will send them away for ever.
And if they ask for advice about the wines on offer, they’re likely to get very little help from the average South African waiter.
I recently heard a diner ask the waitress what wine she recommended with his order. She shrugged and said: “They’re all okay. Nothing special. Red or white?”
(The restaurant in question actually has a reasonably well considered wine list.)
Luckily there are some institutions now offering training to wine service staff. The Cape Wine Academy and WOSA (Wines of South Africa) have established training guidelines for wine staff.
And more recently the Champagne house of Bollinger announced the launch of an annual competition to improve the standard of South Africa’s wine service.
The Bollinger Exceptional Wine Service Award will focus on – and give recognition to — the growing group of professional wine waiters in South Africa.
The new competition is open to all those employed in wine service, with at  least three years’ experience.
The initial screening of competitors will take place regionally, and the final judging will be in Cape Town in September.
The winner will be announced at the Swartland Revolution in November, and the prize includes a trip to France, to visit the House of Bollinger.
The competition will be judged by by a panel of internationally recognized sommeliers.
For more details of the Bollinger competition, visit the website.
www.wineserviceaward.co.za

Photograph: getwaitress.com

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Blaauwklippen’s annual wine blending competition is unique. Unlike other wine competitions this one is for non-professional wine lovers like you and me.
And, unlike other competition, this one is purely for fun.
Competing wine clubs around the country are sent packs of base wines and asked to use them in varying proportions to create a brand new wine, which will be bottled and marketed by Blaauwklippen.
The finalists from each region are flown to Stellenbosch where they are entertained at Blaauwklippen and the award-winning blend is announced at a festive lunch.
This year’s winners were from Port Elizabeth and call themselves the Engineer Wine Club. It’s the 10th time they’ve entered the competition. They’ve reached the finals three times before but never reached the top spot until now.
That shows persistence some would say is typical of engineers.
Their blend was judged the best out of more that 75 entries.
The Engineers Wine Club was originally formed in Durban by a group of wine-loving engineers, but has subsequently moved to the Eastern Cape and now has only two engineers among its 16 members.
The name, however, stays the same.The photograph shows Rolf Zeitvogel, Blaauwklippen cellar master, victorious blenders Guy and Lindsay Thomson and artist Frans Groenewald who designed the label.
Other finalists this year included the Tipsy Tarts Wine Club from Durban – originally started as a book club, the Tipsy Tarts gradually evolved into a far merrier wine group.
Then there were the Parys Winefly Club from the Free State, entering for the first time this year. They were presented with an award for the best first-time achievement.
The only club from the Western Cape was the Weskus Wyngilde, which has entered the competition for the last 15 years but never reached the finals before.
Competing clubs were each sent a pack containing a bottle of the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Shiraz and Blaauwklippen’s signature grape, Zinfandel.
They were required to try out various proportions of each or any of the wines and send their recipe to the organizers. Their brief was to create a serious, easy-drinking dry red wine with subtle tannins.
The winning blend was selected by a panel of experienced wine judges.
Magnums of the blend have been bottled and a special label created by local artist Frans Groenewald are available from the estate, as well as from some specialist wine stores.
For me, the real joy of this competition is that it allows ordinary wine lovers to become involved in the intricacies of wine blending. Just a small variation in proportions can make a huge difference to the character of the final blend.
Most good winemakers realize this, but it’s perhaps not as well understood by consumers.
Incidentally, the winning blends consisted of 6% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Shiraz, 7% Malbec and 45% Zinfandel.

CWG AUCTION: Saturday, October 2.
This year’s Winemakers Guild Auction takes place of October 2 and has been described by members as the best offering ever. Many of the wines on offer were presented at a blind tasting in New York and scored more than the coveted 90 points, regarded internationally as a standard of excellence.
There are 39 wines on this year’s catalogue, all made exclusively for the auction and carefully selected in a blind tasting by members of the Guild. The line-up consists of 21 red wines, 13 white wines, three Méthode Cap Classiques, a dessert wine and a port.
After one blind tasting American wine writer James Molesworth singled out the AA Badenhorst Family Kalmoesfontein Semillon Noble Late Harvest as his top scoring wine, describing it as “A rare treasure worth chasing after.”
Other top scorers included Hidden Valley Top Secret 2008, Kaapzicht Cape Blend Auction Reserve 2007 and Simonsig Auction Reserve Shiraz 2008.
Bidding is open to the public and begins at 9am at the Spier Conference Centre near Stellenbosch.
There are facilities for telephone bidding for buyers unable to attend.
For further details and to attend the auction, visit the guild’s website or contact the Guild Office on 021 852 0408.

The winners! Back row from left Riaan Wassung (Die Laan), Neville Dorringron (Rijk's Private Cellar), Ernst Janovsky, General Manager of Absa AgriBusiness, Etienne Louw (Altydgedacht), Johnnie Calitz (Anura). Front row Jacques Wentzel (Welbedacht), Adele Dunbar (Fairview), Braam Gericke (Wildekrans), Gerhard Swart (Flagstone), Danielle Le Roux (Lyngove), and Danie Steyler Jr (Kaapzicht Steytler)

The annual Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition has become one of the most keenly contested events on the South African wine calendar. This year’s contest attracted more than 130 entries, from all the wine regions of the country.

The awards presentation is always a fun affair, with guests being given the chance of selecting their own “Top 10” from the 20 wines in the final run-up. A prize package of all the winners is presented to the guest whose choice comes closest to the judges’ decision.

This years’ Top 10, in alphabetical order, are:
• Altydgedacht Pinotage 2009 (Durbanville),
• Anura Reserve Pinotage 2008 (Paarl),
• Fairvew Pinotage 2009 (Coastal),
• Flagstone Writer’s Block Pinotage 2008 (Worcester vineyards),
• Kaapzicht Steytler Pinotage 2007 (Stellenbosch),
• Lyngrove Platinum Pinotage 2008 (Stellenbosch),
• Rijk’s Reserve Pinotage 2006 (Tulbagh),
• Welbedacht Estate Pinotage 2008 (Wellington),
• Welgevallen Kelder’s Die Laan Pinotage 2008 (Stellenbosch), and
• Wildekrans Barrel Selection 2008 (Botrivier).

Among the newcomers to the list is one of particular historical interest. Welgevallen is the farm on which Professor A I Peroldt created the very first Pinotage vines by crossing Pinot Noir with Cinsaut (called Hermitage in those days).

Today the farm forms part of Stellebosch University’s property and some of it is on the grounds of Paul Roos Gymnasium.

The grapes for this winning wine were donated to the school by old boys who are now wine farmers, and proceeds from the sale of the wine will go towards a bursary for less privileged kids to attend the famous school.

Presentation packages of the 2010 Absa Top 10 Pinotage wines will be available for sale through the Wine-of-the-Month Club. The presentation packs will include two DVDs and a Pinotage booklet.

Click here for more  information on Pinotage and the South African Pinotage Association.
This package will be of particular interest to wine clubs and tasting groups, who could use it to introduce members to the best of South Africa’s own wine variety.

World’s best?

Could this be the best white blend in the whole world?

The judges at the Decanter World Wine Awards certainly seem to think so.

The 2008 Isliedh from Cape Point Vineyards won the 2010 International Trophy for being the best blended white wine costing more than £10.

Isliedh is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon that has been given almost a year’s maturation in oak barrels. The 2008 vintage earned a full five-star rating in the 2010 edition of the Platter Guide.

Limited stocks of this exceptional wine are available from Cape Point Vineyards at No 1 Chapman’s Peak Drive in Noordhoek, Cape or call 021 789 0094.

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