South Africa's top home-grown wines
Thursday, 3 November, 2005
ML Communications
The winning wines of the prestigious Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition were announced during a luncheon at Meerendal in Durbanville yesterday.
Kanonkop Estate near Stellenbosch, where one of the first Pinotage vineyards was planted in 1946, entered their sixth winning wine, while Wamakersvallei Winery in Wellington entered the fourth consecutive winning wine from their La Cave range. "The success of the Absa Top 10 Pinotage Competition since its inception nine years ago is astounding. This competition has raised the profile of Pinotage both locally and abroad and spurred our wine-makers to push the limits of quality. I believe that not only do the 2005 winners uphold, and indeed raise, the Pinotage standard, but their efforts will make a very real impact on the South African wine export industry," says Robert Emslie, Executive Director Absa Business Banking Services. Two women winemakers this year also showed their expertise with top quality Pinotages. Elsabé le Roux, winemaker of Tulbagh Winery, for the first time entered a Pinotage wine for this competition and the Klein Tulbagh Pinotage Reserve 2003 was selected as one of the Top 10. Debbie Burden, winemaker of Simonsig near Stellenbosch, delivered a winning wine with the Simonsig Red Hill Pinotage 2003 and it is the same wine for which she received the 2005 Woman Winemaker of the Year Trophy. This is the second Simonsig wine selected as a Top 10 Pinotage. Other second-time winning wines came from Diemersfontein Wines with their Carpe Diem Pinotage 2003 and Stellenzicht Vineyards with their Golden Triangle Pinotage 2003. Winecorp entered the third winning wine from their different ranges of wines in two years, namely the Longridge Pinotage 2003. Seventeen of the record 120 entries came from cellars that participated for the first time. Besides the Klein Tulbagh Pinotage, another two of these first-time entrants were placed among the Top 10 wines, namely the Manley Pinotage 2004 and the Somerbosch Pinotage 2004. The Absa Top 10 Pinotage winners and the winemakers are (in alphabetical order): Devon Hill Pinotage 2002 (Erhard Roux) Diemersfontein Carpe Diem Pinotage 2003 (Bertus Fourie) Kanonkop Pinotage 2003 (Abrie Beeslaar) Klein Tulbagh Pinotage Reserve 2003 (Elsabé le Roux) La Cave Pinotage 2004 (André Swanepoel), Longridge Pinotage 2003 (Frans Smit) Manley Pinotage 2004 (David Jordan) Simonsig Red Hill Pinotage 2003 (Debbie Burden) Somerbosch Pinotage 2004 (Marius and Japie Roux) Stellenzicht Golden Triangle Pinotage 2003 (Guy Webber). With the record number of entries it was surprising that the top ten winners came from only three districts or wards. Six of the winners are Wines of Origin Stellenbosch: Devon Hill, Kanonkop, Longridge, Simonsig, Somerbosch and Stellenzicht; two are Wines of Origin Wellington: Diemersfontein Carpe Diem and La Cave (Wamakersvallei); while two are Wines of Origin Tulbagh: Klein Tulbagh and Manley Private Cellar. Six of the winning wines are from the 2003 vintage and it is the first time that wines older than two years are the majority. This confirms the conclusion made by wine producers and wine experts at the 2003 Pinotage Vintage Tasting that it is one of the best vintages for Pinotage over the past 20 years. Four international wine experts, Michael Vaughan from Canada, John Walker from the USA, Peter May from England and South Africa’s Dave Hughes, were included in the panel of seven judges. This international link was introduced to get an indication of the styles of Pinotage wines overseas wine lovers prefer. The other judges were Duimpie Bayly (Cape Wine Master), Margaret Fundira (US Masters Degree in Wine Biotechnology) and Christine Rudman (Cape Wine Master). The runners up out of the twenty finalist wines were Boland Kelder Winemakers Selection 2003, Clos Malverne Pinotage Reserve 2002, Fairview Pinotage 2004, Jacobsdal Pinotage 2002, L'Avenir Pinotage 2004, Môreson Pinotage 2004, Pulpit Rock Pinotage 2004, Villiera Pinotage 2003, Spier Private Selection Pinotage 2003 and Wildekrans Barrel Selection Pinotage 2003. Presentation packages of the 2005 Absa Top 10 Pinotage wines will soon be available for sale at the Wine-of-the-Month-Club. Tel. 021-657 8100. E-mail. wineclub@wineofthemonth.co.za.