On the 17th of May 2017, the South African Wine Tasting Championship celebrated the best wine tasters at the Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank Wine Festival.
For the third year the Provincial leg of the SAWTC is hosted by the most prestigious Gauteng wine event in the luxurious Summer Place in Johannesburg.
Competitors had to taste 30 wines from Creation, The Drift, La Motte, Thelema, Idiom, Montpellier, Journey’s End and Zevenwacht. Once the typicity of each wine has been memorized, candidates had to identify six wines presented to them in anonymous decanter. Each "wannabe champion" marked points by identifying the cultivar, the vintage or the producer for each wine served to them blind.
Some extra points were given through very difficult questions, such as the main cultivar of Dezaley, or where is the Walla Walla valley wine appellation located.
At this difficult game, Eric Botha won the title of Gauteng Champion 2017 with a score of 42 points out of 65! Eric Botha is sommelier at the Matt Cigar Lounge Maboneng.
Out of 62 candidates, many wine lovers showed their talent and some of them will join Eric in the national finals.
The top 10 tasters of the day are: Nkululeko Mkhwanazi, Thomas Reib, Nicky Stetka, Ashleigh van Kerkhoven, Rogan Basnett, Katie Truscott, Conley Cooke, Newman Sigoga, Lerato Moleleki and Christine Andrews.
Some unlucky candidates have already decided to take a chance at the next provincial leg which will take place that TAJ Hotel in Cape Town on the 3rd of June.
The individual scores will decide who will reach the national finals on the 2nd of July. The national finals will select the four members who make up Team South Africa going to France for the World Championship on the 14th of October 2017.
In 2016, South Africa ranked 6th, the best ranking ever. In 2017, South Africa is aiming at a podium position.
The South African Wine Tasting Championships organisers want to congratulate the champions who dared to put their taste to the test and a special thank you to the Juliet Cullinan Standard Bank wine festival.
We wish Eric Botha the best so he can secure his seat in Team South Africa.
Wine.co.za is proud to be the media partner of the SAWTC since inception and supports Team SA 2017.