Cape Legends to have strong presence at Nederburg Auction

Fifteen wines from eight of the top wineries represented by Cape Legends have been included in the line-up of wines for the 38th Nederburg Auction to be held in September. They are Allesverloren, Alto, Jacobsdal, Le Bonheur, Lomond, Neethlingshof, Plaisir de Merle and Stellenzicht. The 15 Cape Legends wines include 10 reds, three whites and two ports. The latter are of the 1999 and 2004 vintages and were in both instances produced by Allesverloren near Riebeek-Kasteel. All the wines selected=”true”=”true”=”true” regularly distinguish themselves on local and international wine competitions.

The oldest wine among the 15 is a 1978 Pinotage from Jacobsdal which lies in the hills above Kuils River, followed by a 1982 Cabernet Sauvignon from Alto, the exclusively red-wine estate on the slopes of the Helderberg near Stellenbosch.

Among the three white wines is a 2007 Gewürtztraminer from Neethlingshof. This niche wine, one of the few of the cultivar available locally, was made from the grapes of a dryland vineyard planted some 25 years ago by Günter Brözel.

The other two whites are the well-known single-vineyard Sauvignon blancs from the sea-facing Lomond in the ward of Cape Agulhas. They are the 2006 Pincushion and the 2007 Sugarbush. Both wines have developed a reputation for longevity. According to winemaker Kobus Gerber the Pincushion is only now “approaching its optimum, with a wonderful richness of flavours coming to the fore”.

The 2007 Sugarbush won the trophy for the best Sauvignon blanc at the annual Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show in 2009 and then repeated this feat in 2011 at the same show, this time in the museum class. Later vintages of both these wines have just been included in the list of Top 100 SA Wines.

Among the 11 reds there are two blends – a 2002 Alto Rouge and a 2001 Le Bonheur Prima. Alto Rouge is one of South Africa’s oldest and most respected red blends while the Le Bonheur Prima has during the last few years become something of an institution at the auction.

The 1978 Pinotage from Jacobsdal will come under the hammer, as will the 1998 Neethlingshof Pinotage.

There are three Cabernet Sauvignons among the 15 wines. Besides the 1982 from Alto, wines from Allesverloren (2001 vintage) and Jacobsdal (2003 vintage) will also be auctioned. The latter won a grand gold medal at the Selections Mondiales in Canada in 2007.

Stellenzicht has always been particularly known for its Shiraz and the few cases from its 1997 vintage going on auction are expected to attract considerable buyer interest. The same goes for Allesverloren Shiraz 2007, a signature wine from this Swartland estate which has done much to establish its enviable reputation.

The enormous success of Malbec in Argentina has led to a considerable following for this varietal locally. Among its foremost exponents here is Niel Bester, who has been in charge of winemaking at Plaisir de Merle since 1993. His 2007 vintage will be auctioned.

Sake 24 coverage of the Nederburg Auction

Some great coverage about Nederburg’s Private Bin selection for this year’s 38th Nederburg Auction. Read more here.

Nederburg brings out its best Private Bins for 2012 Auction

Nederburg’s suite of Private Bin wines selected for this year’s Nederburg Auction includes a noble late harvest judged one of the world’s top ten dessert wines; wines well over 30 years’ old; lively, supple reds now in their teens and some vintage whites, six and seven years’ old and in their prime, says cellar master Razvan Macici.

The accent on this year’s line-up, he says, is on Nederburg’s ageworthy dessert wines, ranging from the 1977 Edelkeur that was awarded Top Ten status at the 2007 International Botrytis Type Wine and Sweet Competition in Budapest, to Edelkeurs from 1979, 1998, 2004 and 2007.  The winery’s other high-profile sweet wine, Eminence is also well represented with three vintages: the 1991, 1998 and 2001. There are also several single-cultivar noble late harvest wines on offer, two Weisser Rieslings (2001 and 2004), two Semillons (2000 and 2002), as well as a Gewürztraminer (2010).

Macici is very excited about the whites on offer.  “We are particularly proud of the whites selected. They are ageing extremely well and are really in absolutely top shape.  We have the 2006 and 2010 vintages of the single-vineyard D234 Sauvignon Blanc made from a dryland block in the Groenekloof near Darling, showing powerful grassy and herbaceous notes but beautifully balanced and generous on the palate. The D253 Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay is a 2005 wine and is still bright and youthful with cool-climate Sauvignon blanc characters that combine with Chardonnay from Durbanville, fermented in new French oak.”

He also highlights the D266, an unwooded Semillon from the 2009 vintage, which he describes as the ideal wine list offering as it complements so many different styles of cuisine from Asian to Mediterranean, and the 2009 D270 Chardonnay, displaying both freshness and length.

Amongst the reds are four fine-drinking wines from 2001, his maiden year with Nederburg – a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Shiraz, a Merlot and a Petit Verdot, as well as more recent iterations. There are also two red blends from 2000, a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot and a Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon. “All show a lovely vivacity coupled with excellent integration between fruit and wood.”

Details of the wines are featured in the Nederburg Auction catalogue, available in June.

Then and Now

A beautiful piece of wine nostalgia from the blog of Ross Sleet – the Nederburg Auction is a proud 38 years old this year:

Then and now

I recently came across a 1977 Decanter magazine, which featured a report on the Nederburg Auction of that year. The 25 year old observations on whom and what impressed the UK journalists are enlightening.

Comments from Tony Lord in an article titled: ‘The World’s most beautiful wine region’, begins with the words, “The lush vineyards of South Africa’s Cape Province lie historically and technically, if not geographically, at the crossroads of the wine world. The Cape wines have their roots in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, and many facets of the industry reflect this heritage.” Mr. Lord continues elsewhere, “The roughly 100 000 hectares under vine are split among upwards of 10 000 growers…”. The co-op system of old is explained in succinct terms, and the biggest change that the writer foresaw was the growth predicated in wine brands as a result of the 1972 Wine of Origin legislation which would allow estates to market wines under their own labels. Wineries such as Nederburg, Kanonkop, Groot Constantia, Overgaauw, Rustenburg, Simonsvlei, Swartland, Uiterwyk, and Vergengoegd (sic), are touted as names to look out for in the future, as they would be able to take advantage of the change in approach and market their wines directly. The Mount Nelson and Lanzerac Hotel were the recommended hotels to stay in, and recommended restaurants included Ons Huisie, Le Gourmet, and The Round House.

Mr. Lord also penned an article on the third Nederburg wine auction where he describes a feast fit for emperors, which it is estimated cost the princely sum of £6.00 per person! The auction revenue was reported as just over £150 000 from around 5000 cases sold. When we bear in mind that a Pound bought you R1.60 in 1977, then the 2011 Nederburg Auction total of over R6 million, leads me to query how much we have moved forward in the intervening years. Perhaps the advert from Cape Wine Importers in the same pages, which offers a 12x75cl case of Nederburg Stein, delivered to the UK for £22.00 (including VAT and insurance!), best illustrates how much things have changed.

Patrick Grubb’s article in the same edition details a visit by 51 MWs (when last did 50 plus MWs visit anywhere en masse?) is a masterpiece of restrained praise for the wines of the Cape with some of the familiar stops such as Meerlust, Boschendal, Rustenburg, Twee Jongegezzellen, and Uitkyk, appearing. The hospitality shown to this group of visitors is alluded to by a number of references, and as Mr. Grubb also conducted the Nederburg Auction, perhaps his enthusiasm rubbed off on buyers.

The most interesting aspect of the articles that appear in this edition are the comments on South African Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, and white wines. Our Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, is seen as a great value for money alternative to Bordeaux reds. A comparative tasting of 10 South African wines and 4 Bordeaux wines had the French topping and tailing the South African scores. Value wise, our wines were seen to be far ahead of their French counterparts. White wines were considered to have improved immeasurably but the implied threat of flabbiness remains unspoken in the background.

So what’s the point of all this nostalgia? How much has changed since 1977 beyond the demise of the Co-ops, the emergence of Distell as the powerhouse of the wine industry, and the growth of private cellars (all of which are of course pretty major changes)? Or is it that everything has changed and that the industry of 35 years ago wouldn’t recognise itself now? How much further down the line are we now as an Industry compared to 1977?

Are our viticultural and winemaking techniques better now than back then? Do we have the most beautiful wine region in the world, and are we still hospitable as a nation? I would absolutely argue yes to all of these questions, but have South African wines risen beyond the price opportunity that was so visible back then to occupy their place alongside the top wines of Bordeaux and other regions? Unfortunately, the response to this is mostly no. What then is missing in order to deliver success for brand South Africa?

Some South African wine brands do find themselves priced in the higher echelons of global price points, but they are sadly few and far between. The failure of the majority of South African brands to attract higher price points globally is the systemic failure of us all. Our plantings are more or less the same, around 100 000 hectares, and the emphasis on more “noble” varietals both in the vineyards and supermarket shelves has led to a change in drinking habits and some market upliftment in some channels or market segments, but in the main our prices remain consistently the lowest of all New World wines. News from Germany received this year during ProWein, seems to indicate there is an opportunity for South Africa to break out of the New World category and move away from being associated with the rest of the New World wines. If this opportunity can be grasped, then South Africa will have truly arrived as a category in Germany. That Germans however pay amongst the lowest price per bottle of any wine-drinking nation should not be lost on observers however. Two European countries where South Africa is a distinct category are Holland and Sweden, but in Holland prices remain very low, and in Sweden the category has grown out of the success of Bag In Box wines. The UK remains a perennial thorn in South African brand owner’s sides but a serious wine brand avoids the UK at their peril. The growth of supermarket own label wines in the UK are also a threat to the South African category as much as they are a threat to all branded wines. Our exposure to Asia and North America remains slim.

Simply put, we need to become better at selling and marketing our wines. Appreciating category and brand building life cycles, and the ability to engineer the approach required to build a name amongst buyers, consumers, and commentators alike, are skills that remain in short supply in South Africa. Public Relations remains a misunderstood beast to many, and the lack of cooperation between brand owners continues to affect our ability to grow effectively. Winemakers share information willingly it seems, but marketeers less so. Brands that have succeeded over time and have remained in high regard since 1977 are those brands whose owners understand the time value equation of building wine brands, and who have invested in effective brand building. How many of today’s brands will still be here in another 35 years?

Read the original article here

38th Nederburg Auction line-up highlights exclusivity

Local and international wine buyers have much to look forward to on September 28 and 29 when a selection of just over 150 of South Africa’s best local vintages will be sold at the 2012 Nederburg Auction. Chosen from the more than 280 wines submitted, this year’s line-up offers a collection of distinctive wines with strong reputations and historical value.

A total of 73 wineries were rigorously hand-picked by the auction selection panel for this year’s showcase, including 12 newcomers – Almenkerk, Beyerskloof, Bosman Family Vineyards, Mont Destin, Rietvallei, Rupert & Rothschild, Shannon Wines, Strandveld, The Auction Crossing, The Goose Wines, Wildekrans and Wonderfontein – alongside the original five participants, Delheim, Groot Constantia, Overgaauw, Simonsig and Nederburg, which have been on every auction since 1975.

Says Nederburg Auction business manager Dalene Steyn: “The Nederburg Auction is all about creating a culture of exclusivity. All wines selected to participate receive the “Nederburg Auction selection” seal of endorsement – the ultimate prestigious recognition that, given the auction’s stringent selection criteria, can be quite hard to achieve.”

Sommelier and logistics manager for the 2012 selection tasting Higgo Jacobs concurs; “Less than half the wines submitted made it onto this year’s auction. From a consumer point of view I believe this is a positive outcome, as it shows that the tasting panel has been strict in applying the judging criteria and are confident that the wines approved are great vintages that display the best potential from a wine appreciation, maturation and/or collector’s point of view.”

The selection tasting is conducted blind by a panel of wine experts, including Cape Wine Masters, sommeliers and wine judges, and the entire process is audited to ensure a fair result.

Higgo continues: “Only white wines three years or older, and red wines five years and older, are allowed to be submitted, because from a food and wine pairing point of view, the wines selected must be properly matured wines ready for consumption in restaurants. This also gives the auction an added advantage when it comes to offering older wines, which are more subtle and therefore better at complementing a food experience.”

A list of this year’s auction wines can be viewed and downloaded here. A short YouTube video clip with comments from some of this year’s judging panel can be viewed below, and is also available at this link: http://youtu.be/noa8P93wQyo. The official catalogue will be available in June.

Positive response to wine submissions for 2012 Nederburg Auction

Wine entries for this year’s Nederburg Auction, regarded as one of the world’s five major wine auctions, are coming in rapidly. This prestigious annual event marks its 38th year on September 28th and 29th at Nederburg in Paarl, following Cape Wine 2012.
Organizers have invited all South African producers of wine to participate by submitting their rare, exclusive wines of outstanding quality for the selection tasting, scheduled to take place on 23rd and 24th February.
Nederburg Auction business manager Dalene Steyn says; “Our aim is to constantly find ways to improve the Nederburg Auction on all levels so that the quality of the wines sold continues to increase. From an administrative point of view, we have launched an online registration system for this year’s auction in association with wine.co.za, the objective being to simplify the submission process for producers and enable us to maintain a database for future reference.”
She adds; “From the entries received so far we are excited to see smaller quantities of really rare, exclusive wines being submitted, which supports our mandate to take the Auction to the next level and thus enhance the quality of the offering. Our team at the Nederburg Auction office is in high spirits in anticipation of what this year holds for the 38th Nederburg Auction of rare South African wines.”
The closing date for submissions is Friday 3rd February 2012.
Producers who are still keen to participate can contact Moira de Koker – MjdeKoker@Distell.co.za or tel: 021 809 7000 to obtain the auction entry guidelines.