2010: Keynote Presentation

Marie Nygren, Vice President and Director of Purchases and Supply Chain Management and Sara Norell, Head of Purchasing in the Supply Chain Management division from Systembolaget AB, the Swedish retail Alcohol Monopoly, were this year’s keynote speakers. They attributed the success of South African wine in the Swedish market to the full bodied wines produced here and the customer-driven focus of local producers. South Africa is the biggest category of imported wines in Sweden.

Download the Keynote Presentation

Nederburg Auction 2010 Image Gallery

These are just a few of the many highlights that played out over the 2010 Nederburg Auction, however perhaps it’s best to let the photo’s speak for themselves. - a picture does after all speak more than a thousand words.

Chateau Lagrange 1986 fetches R60 000 on 2010 Charity Auction

Mezzo-soprano Hannelie Rupert-Koegelenberg and her husband Hein of La Motte wine farm were the biggest buyers at this year’s Nederburg Charity Auction on Saturday 4 September, contributing over R100 000. This is the second year in a row that the Koegelenbergs have generously donated to the charity sale, which this year raised close to R170 000 for three community-based projects – the Goedgedacht Trust, Pebbles Project and World Vision South Africa, Mbekweni.

The highest price for a single lot was R60 000, paid by Hanneli-Rupert Koegelenberg for an imperial bottle of Chateau Lagrange 1986, donated by Mark Norrish. Interestingly, this item first featured on the Charity Auction in 2000. It was donated by the guest speaker that year, Mr Shin Torii, president of Suntory, Japan, and purchased by Mark Norrish for R10 000.

The Koegelenbergs also bought three other items, including a rare bottle of Chateaux Margaux 1959, donated by Duimpie Bayly on behalf of The Tabernacle at Distell, a bottle of Chateau Latour 1986, donated by this year’s auctioneer Anthony Barne, and a bottle of Madeira 1840 “The Rebel”, the oldest item on the auction that was donated by veteran Patrick Grubb, the original auctioneer at Nederburg.

Ray Edwards from Spar snapped up a 2007 single-vineyard Shiraz from Nederburg, labelled Tribute and donated by Nederburg cellarmaster Razvan Macici, for R17 000. This is the second of three sets that were specifically released for the auction, each comprising eight bottles, ranging in size from the standard 750 ml to the 18 litre Melchior. The first of three sets debuted on the 2009 Charity Auction and included a magnum, double magnum, Jereboam, Rehoboam, imperial, Methuselah, Balthazar and more, to make up 65,25 litres in all. Every bottle within the set has been individually boxed. The remaining set will be auctioned in 2011.

Over the past twenty years, the charity auction has raised more than R3 million for its beneficiaries, which included the Hospice Palliative Care Association, the Organ Donor Foundation and mothers2mothers (m2m).

Looking back and moving forward

Friday 3rd September will see the Nederburg Auction mark its 36th anniversary, a significant milestone that looks back on its humble beginnings in 1975.  This week-end’s event celebrates the theme of Then and Now, tracing the evolution of the time when there were just 15 wines on offer from five participants, compared with this year’s 161 speciality wines from 81 producers that are intended to provide a selection with appeal to a broad spectrum of niched and multiple retailers and on-consumption customers.

The 2010 streamlined, “back to business” format this year is also more reminiscent of the Nederburg Auction in its earlier years, and is a deliberate signal to bidders, says Carina Gous, Distell’s newly appointed wine segment director, of the intention to deliver real value to buyers.

Ray Edwards of retail giant Spar, last year’s biggest buyer on the auction adds: “From a buyer perspective, despite a tough current trading environment, we can look forward to a variety of lot sizes, affording buyers the flexibility to purchase in line with specific volume requirements. This year we’re keen to target the Nederburg reds, in particular the Private Bins as they offer good value for money for our wine consumers”.

That said, the auction values its guests and is keen to ensure that everyone attending this year has a great experience, which is why Saturday’s programme on September 4 pays tribute to the heady disco days of the 70s and the first auction when bellbottoms, maxi dresses, platforms and kaftans were the highlight of the fashion culture. Shades of orange and brown, then the most popular combination, have been incorporated throughout the look and feel for this year’s event.

Vintage cars and tractors displayed next to the vineyards add a touch of authenticity to the day, while beautiful solid decks on either side of the main marquee offer views of Nederburg’s manor house and vineyards.  The seated areas in the main marquee work together to create a warm, inviting atmosphere for guests to relax, fill up on the variety of delicious alfresco-style eats on offer, and re-charge their bidding batteries.

On the entertainment side, guests will be treated to the velvety-textured voices of Cape-based singing trio Three Tons of Fun. Sthe Mfuphi (alto and mezzo soprano), Michelle Thomas (alto) and Bulelwa Cosa (mezzo soprano) will add a thrilling edge of modernity to classical favourites from 13:45 on Saturday afternoon, and will be followed by the fresh, vibrant and contemporary music of all-male a’capello group D-seven.

For the ladies, international mineral make-up brand jane iredale The Skin Care Makeup will be on hand in the Nederburg Manor House throughout the day to do touch-ups and offer consultations. Known as The Skin Care Makeup, the jane iredale range of cosmetics, distributed in South Africa by ex-Miss South Africa Michelle Mountain (then Bruce), consists of a blend of natural minerals and pigments that form a protective filter on the skin, allowing it to breathe naturally while shielding it from harmful pollutants. Michelle, a self-proclaimed Eco-Warrior, is a firm believer that the best makeup you can wear is a healthy skin.

The Nederburg Auction officially kicks off on Friday, September 3, at 08:00 with a pre-tasting of this year’s wine selection. Bidding commences at 10:00.

Telling it like it is

When last did you see a wine label that literally follows the rule of “what you see is what you get.”? No frills. No Latin. No French or other foreign name.

If straight talking is your preference, you might want to look into Rijk Tulbagh’s Vol Soet Chenin Blanc 1997, an exciting new fortified wine set to debut on the upcoming Nederburg Auction.

Aged for 12 years in small oak before considered ready to show its luscious face, this is no gawky adolescent. It’s rich, full palate of fruit and nuts is said to end in a surprisingly dry and long finish. Grapes harvested at full ripeness were picked from vines growing on the flood plains of the Klein Berg River and protected by the peaks of the Obiqua, Winterhoek and Witzenberg mountains. Just 5 000 litres of the full and sweet reserve wine have been made with 20 6-bottle cases available on this year’s auction.

Another newcomer to this September’s showcase is Mountain Oaks, also the first winery to have an organically-grown and organically produced wine come under the hammer in the 36-year history of the event. The Slanghoek winery, accredited by the Norwegian Debio certification authorities, has produced a Chenin Blanc Reserve 2005 from vines that, according to owner Mark Stevens, are now between 60 and 90 years old. Originally bush vines, they have been trellised “to keep them going”, he explains, and receive water just once in the season before harvest.

He and his wife, Christine, who is the winemaker, bought the farm in 1999 and have been producing wines here since 2003, mentored by the late Ross Gower. Stevens says the wine, which is “on the dry side” has been variously described by journalists lucky enough to have sampled it, as “complex, very interesting and absolutely exquisite.”

There are three other newbies to watch out for, including the maiden vintage Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz Reserve 2004 from Francois Agenbag, a previous winner of the Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year Award.

Another example of telling it like it is, when owner Patrick Pols counted seven oaks on the Breedekloof farm, his wife, Jacqui decided that was enough to clinch the name of the property. Fifteen 6-bottle cases of the multi-award-winner will be on offer.

Vrede en Lust, owned by the Buys family and already establishing a sound prize-winning pedigree, is introducing a Sauvignon Blanc 2007, as well as a Viognier 2008 to auction-bidders. There will be 10 6-bottle cases of each.

Vilafonté, the collaborative label of Zelma Long, often referred to as America’s first lady of wine; her husband, Phil Freese, an internationally respected viticulturist; and South African Mike Ratcliffe, is represented by 20 6-bottle cases of the Cabernet Sauvignon-dominated blend, Series C 2003.

Wines on offer can be purchased by members of the trade with a liquor licence, as well by anyone who belongs to the Vinotèque Wine Bank.

Details of these and other wines to be auctioned at Nederburg on Friday, September 3 and Saturday, September 4 can be found by going to the Wines on Auction page.

Bell Bottoms, Honky Tonk Woman and Edelkeur

Back in the day when South Africans were glued to their radio sets listening to the first landing on the moon, when going to the movies was the entire evening’s entertainment and if you were anything from 10 to 25 you yearned to share in the nirvana of Woodstock, Carnaby Street and bell bottoms, Günter Brözel was setting the issues of the world aside to coax South Africa’s very first noble late harvest wine into being.

The German-born and raised cellarmaster of Nederburg, who was familiar with the richly scented, honeyed, complex and exquisitely graceful noble late harvest Trockenbeerenauslese wines of his native country, as well as the Tokaj wines of Hungary and the Sauternes of France, wanted to create something similar on South African soil.

Working very closely with Dr Nino Costa of Monis, who had trained as a chemist, local vineyards were identified and after extensive experimentation, the first wine made from grapes infected with the fungus, noble rot (Botrytis cinerea) was produced in 1969.

Noble rot grows in moist, humid conditions, often brought on by summer rains, followed by moderate temperatures and enough of a breeze to ensure good air circulation through the vine canopies. The fungus literally feeds on the juice of the grapes and concentrates not only their sugars, but their acids and flavours. One of nature’s miracles, it depends on a pretty exact sequence of events – a few days, at most, of wet weather and then sunshine – to produce wines of luxurious depth and sweetness. Wet weather, followed by extended cold temperatures and high humidity or too hot weather, can turn the noble into sour rot, rendering the grapes worthless and totally unusable for any wine at all.

It had taken the pair years to get to the point where the grapes were of the quality to make the wine that Brözel envisaged and the 1969 vintage was especially kind to them. Not one to mince his words, he pronounced it “perfect”. At a more expansive moment, he described as a “late-late harvest liquid gold” wine that was “fruity with a taste of almond.”

That was the good news. The not so good news was that in the legislative landscape of the time, the residual sugar content of natural wines could not exceed 30 grams per litre. His new wine, that he called Edelkeur, after the German word for noble rot which is edelfäule, came in way, way above that. But he wasn’t going to let such constraints stand in his path. It took extensive lobbying and the co-operation of Nietvoorbij’s Oenological and Viticultural Research Institute, as it was called in those days, for Act No 25 of 1957 to be amended, permitting Nederburg to sell “not more than 2 000 gallons” of the 1969 vintage.

And so it was then that the Nederburg Auction was established, as a platform for this new and unusual wine. First held in 1975, it has remained a showcase for Edelkeur, as well as the many other specialty South African wines.

Although the legislation has since been changed to allow for the unrestricted sale of noble late harvest wines, Edelkeur is still made for sale exclusively on this auction.

Since taking over as cellarmaster of Nederburg in 2001, Razvan Macici has shown great dexterity in making noble late harvest wines of his own, augmenting the award-winning tradition created by Brözel. “When Romanians hear the name Macici, they immediately think of my late father. His named was closely linked with noble late harvest wines. Botrytis wines were the first I learned to understand and that I aspired to make.”

Standing out for their luxuriously sweet yet graceful aromas and tastes, tempered by a firm acidity, today’s Edelkeurs continue to honour the tradition established by Brözel when the Stones’ Honky Tonky Woman was hitting the charts.

This year’s auction features the seminal 1977 vintage, made by Brözel and voted one of the top 10 wines on an international sweet wine competition held in Budapest in 2007, as well as the highly decorated 1998, 2004 and 2005 vintages. Also scheduled to come under the hammer is the single-vineyard 2001 S16 Weisser Riesling Noble Late Harvest.

Appealing Line-Up For 2010 Nederburg Charity Auction

The 2010 Nederburg Charity Auction, which is an integral part of the annual Nederburg Wine Auction, will see a number of interesting wine items come under the hammer again. The Charity Auction will be held on Saturday, 4 September in the auction hall at the close of the main event, and is open to all guests. Bidders can register using a credit card.

As this year’s event looks back on 36 years of passion, style and artistry, shaped by over 300 years of South African wine making, it is fitting that the first of the 12 items to be auctioned is a singular micro-cuvée, created in 2009 by celebrated Nederburg winemaker Razvan Macici, to mark 350 years of winemaking in the Cape. Just 300 litres of the 2007 Shiraz, produced from a single vineyard block in Philadelphia, have been made and labeled Tribute to honour all the legendary names in winemaking who preceded Nederburg’s current cellar team and who have served as their inspiration. The second of three special sets, each totalling 65.25 litres, will be auctioned this year.

Also of historical significance is an item that comes from one of South Africa’s oldest wine brands. Zonnebloem, a leader in the time-honoured craft of winemaking since the early 1700s, has donated three magnums of the 1978 Cabernet Sauvignon, which, according to current cellarmaster Deon Boshoff, is the first vintage to be bottled by Zonnebloem in magnum bottles.

The oldest item to be included in this year’s charity line-up is a bottle of Madeira 1840 “The Rebel”, made by Newton, Gordon, Cossart & Co. and donated by veteran Nederburg auctioneer Patrick Grubb. The story surrounding this wine is that it arrived in New York the February of 1889 and was bottled by William H. Fearing at 24 Broad Street. It was re-corked on April 16, 1919 and again in 2002, when Patrick bought it. The identity of this wine is not known, and, having made a double crossing of the Equator, it has some cachet.

This year’s auctioneer, Anthony Barne, has donated a special bottle of Chateau Latour 1986, a vintage that has been slow to mature due to the richness of the tannins, making it perfect to drink in 2016.

The item to be auctioned last this year has an interesting story attached to it, having featured on the Nederburg Charity Auction before. A 5-litre bottle of Chateau Lagrange 1986, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, was donated in 2000 by the guest speaker that year, Mr Shin Torii, president of Suntory, Japan, and purchased by Mr Mark Norrish for R10 000. It was, incidentally, the very last item auctioned that day. Now ten years later, Mr Norrish has generously donated this wine once again in his personal capacity and it will also again be the last charity item to be auctioned.

Other auction participants who have generously donated items for the charity sale include Fleur du Cap, Annandale, Rustenberg, Vilafonte, MC Square – owner Jean-Luc Sweerts has donated four special bottles from his private cellar – and Stellenzicht.

Last year, the Nederburg Charity Auction raised close to R210 000. The proceeds were shared equally amongst the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa, the Organ Donor Foundation and an AIDS-HIV-support NGO, Mothers2Mothers. The Auction organizers are evaluating several projects in and around the Drakenstein area before deciding on the beneficiaries of this year’s Charity Auction.

A full listing of this year’s charity items is included in the catalogue, available for download here.

A Love or Hate Affair

Pinotage has come an incredibly long way in the last 60 or so years. Originally developed by Professor Perold in the early 20′s, its first commercial plantings were almost a mistake – Pinotage pioneer, P.K. Morkel of Bellevue actually wanted to plant Gamay at the time but none was available! A few years later, having daringly devoted several hectares of his farm to this brand new variety, his wine won the General Smuts trophy at the Cape Young Wine Show and Pinotage seemed set for success.

But no route to the top comes without a few setbacks along the way and Pinotage has been dogged by complaints about ‘strange flavours’ (bananas and burnt rubber), over-extracted fruit, over-oaked wines and a general lack of direction over the years. It wasn’t until 1991 that international markets fully acknowledged the variety’s potential when Beyers Truter won Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine & Spirit Competition with his Kanonkop 1989, and Pinotage became widely known as South Africa’s grape.

The 21st century saw the controversies continue with the development of the ‘chocolate/coffee’ Pinotages, first made by Diemersfontein and now a popular style with increasing numbers of wineries every year. The wine fundis loathe it, but the wine drinkers love it and, once again, Pinotage is right back in the public eye.

Whichever style of Pinotage you love – or dislike – it is clear that it is finally achieving the success for which its creator hoped. Thirty-five years ago, there were only two Pinotages chosen for the Nederburg Auction, but this year there will be seventeen top class wines with styles ranging from elegant, cool-climate examples from Southern Right, Diemersdal and Meerendal to rich, warming wines from Slaley, L’Avenir and Lanzerac to name but a few.

In addition (and perhaps to disprove all those sceptics who think Pinotage cannot age), there will be a stunning range of Heritage wines including one bottle of the very first Pinotage ever to go on auction at Nederburg – the Groot Constantia 1972. Other precious lots include one bottle of 1978 Simonsig (their 1972 was the second-ever Pinotage in the auction) and one bottle of 1975 Delheim. It’s a rare opportunity to own a little piece of South Africa’s ‘liquid history’ – Professor Perold would surely be pleased and proud of his invention’s journey so far!

“Big Five” Dig Deep to offer Rare Heritage Wines at 2010 Nederburg Auction

From the beginning of the Nederburg Auction in 1975, the five wineries to originally share the first bidding platform have gone on to consistently achieve selection status for almost every consecutive auction since then. For 36 years, the virtually uninterrupted presence of Delheim, Groot Constantia, Nederburg, Overgaauw and Simonsig has been a testament to carefully crafted, superior wines, and provided an incentive to greater wine standards, the core value that underpins the auction.

From the beginning of the Nederburg Auction in 1975, the five wineries to originally share the first bidding platform have gone on to consistently achieve selection status for almost every consecutive auction since then. For 36 years, the virtually uninterrupted presence of Delheim, Groot Constantia, Nederburg, Overgaauw and Simonsig has been a testament to carefully crafted, superior wines, and provided an incentive to greater wine standards, the core value that underpins the auction.

This year, to honour the auction’s heritage, the original ‘big five’ have delved into their cellars to find wines sold at the 1975 auction or similar wines. The result is a rare collection of Heritage Wines that will be sold at the start of the auction on Saturday 4 September 2010.

Delheim offers one bottle each of the 1975 Pinotage and 1974 Goldspatz Stein – the latter featured on the first auction and is, in the words of Spatz Sperling as quoted in the 1975 catalogue, ‘a freak of nature – a true vintage wine’.  Both bottles will be sold together as one item with a reserve price of R2 000.

In 1975 Groot Constantia showcased a 1970 and 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as a Pinotage and Shiraz, both of 1972 vintage. This year all but the 1970 Cabernet are on auction as a Heritage Wine item – a bottle of each cultivar of 1972 is on offer as a package at a reserve price of R4 500.

Nederburg has a case of 12 x 750 ml bottles of Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon 1975 available for the auction, at a reserve price of R4 000. Made by the doyen of the SA Wine Industry, Günter Brözel, in the first year of the auction, this well-aged wine shows tertiary flavours and its fruit characters remain clearly in evidence.

At a reserve price of R2 500, Overgaauw’s heritage offering includes two bottles of their 1975 Cabernet Sauvignon, made by Braam van Velden, as well as a bottle of 1972 Pinotage, which was made by father and son team David (Snr) and Braam. Commenting on the wines, Braam’s son David, who represents the third generation of this highly successful winemaking family, says; “These wines were carefully chosen for the Nederburg Auction, particularly the 1972 Pinotage, which was the first Pinotage to be bottled under the Overgaauw label.” David adds; “As a family the Van Veldens cherish our close and long relationship with the auction, and we felt that these wines are representative of the journey that we’ve experienced with the event for the past 36 years.”

Last but not least, Simonsig, which showcased a 1972 Pinotage at the first auction, made by Frans Malan, will offer three bottles of the 1978 Pinotage in a special presentation pack at a reserve price of R1 500. Current cellarmaster Johan Malan says; “The 1978 Simonsig Pinotage comes from a superb red wine vintage and is a real collector’s item – it carries the historic 100% Pinotage label, which was the first wine label in South Africa to show a percentage – it’s a beautifully matured wine, displaying all the velvety sweet fruit and elegance that makes very old Pinotage wines such a rare pleasure to drink.”

A Celebration of Then and Now

The annual Nederburg Auction of rare Cape wines has a proud 36-year history. From a humble beginning as a platform for selling Edelkeur, Nederburg’s signature dessert wine created by the inimitable Günter Brözel, the auction has become a towering event on the international wine calendar, offering the pinnacle of South Africa’s wine selection shaped by over 300 years of South African winemaking.

At the first auction in 1975, 15 rare Cape wines from five wine estates were showcased, with an overall average price of R19 per case. Since then, the general average price paid per case has risen to R840 (or R1 099 per 9-litre case) in 2009. Thirty-six years on, this event continues to make an impact as one of the world’s five major wine auctions, and in fulfilling its objective to ensure fair distribution of rare wines, has done much to stimulate interest in South African wines among connoisseurs and the wine-loving public, both locally and abroad.

This year’s auction on September 3 and 4 pays homage to its origins with a selection of 161 wines, including some rare 70′s vintage items, on offer from the five original participants – Delheim, Groot Constantia, Overgaauw, Simonsig and Nederburg - that were represented at the founding auction.

Traditionally open to licensed buyers only, the auction will for the first time in its 36-year history offer a bidding platform for members of the public via the Bergkelder Vinotèque Wine Bank which has set up a simple system that makes it possible for new and current members to acquire wines through the auction.

The complete wine line-up for 2010 comprises 98 red, 27 white, 8 natural sweet, 9 Noble Late Harvest, 4 MCC’s,10 ports and 5 heritage items.

The red wines include 33 red blends, 21 Cabernet Sauvignons, 17 Pinotages, 5 Merlots, 14 Shiraz/Syrahs and 8 other reds. The white wines include 9 Sauvignon Blancs, 9 Chardonnays, 4 Chenin Blancs and 5 other whites.