A swirl of award-winning wines are available for enjoyment
[caption id="attachment_34426" align="alignright" width="250"] Kyle Zulch of Super Single Vineyards with the trophy for Best Shiraz and Best Red Wine overall[/caption]
INVITATIONS to dress elegantly and taste 17 of South Africa's best wines in one sitting don't come along every day – so the annual visit of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show winners to Port Elizabeth is a rare treat.
It's a pity, though, that the Port Elizabeth leg of this road show is an invitation-only affair as I'm sure local wine-lovers would happily fork out R150 to sample 153 of the medal and trophy winners at public tastings, as they do in Joburg and Cape Town.
It's impossible to describe 17 wines in one column, but highlights included acknowledgement of probably the first-ever Old Mutual Trophy-winner to hail from the Bay and a tasting of Michael White's Highlands Road Sauvignon Blanc 2009, winner of the trophy for Best Museum Class Sauvignon Blanc. Museum class for white wines means the wine is at least four years old and this one showcases the slow evolution of cool climate wines, delivering rich complexity that you don't find in a brand-new Sauvignon Blanc.
Best bubbly winner Table Bay MCC is full-flavoured, crisp and complex, mellowing from a sweetish start into typical lemony-biscuity flavours.
It's a bargain to be snapped up from Ultra at R69.99.
Show chair Michael Fridjhon highlighted the "avant garde" producers who are producing wine "at the new frontier, at the edge of what is possible". Stand-out amongst them, and winner of the trophy for best red overall, was the Super Single Vineyards Mount Sutherland Syrah 2012. Produced at 1500m in the Sneeuberg and near Sutherland, the coldest place in South Africa, Fridjhon calls this wine "a madness that is going to rewrite the map of viticulture".
Mad it might be, but it's amazing – elegant and succulent with layers of white pepper, cloves and rose petals. Not cheap at R169 but well worth the price.
The find of the show, and deserved winner of the trophy for Discovery of the Show (the best value gold medallist) was the Baleia Bay Chardonnay 2013 – a super cool climate Chardonnay with a strong burnt caramel-vanilla nose transforming into creamy citrus and butterscotch tastes.
Ignore its tacky label and pick it up for an unbelievable R49.
The "less showy" but utterly delicious Mulderbosch Chardonnay 2013 (R100) took the International Judges' Trophy, with French judge and winemaker Veronique Drouhin-Boss blown away by the improvement in SA Chardonnays over the last five years.
Our winemakers have got it right at last, she said, delivering elegant Chardonnays with a lighter touch.
The winning wines, apart from the Table Bay MCC which is only available at Ultra, are available at their pre- medal-winning prices from Makro, until the end of June or while stocks last – hurry! - A Vine Time, with Samantha Venter
