A one-of-a-kind 18-litre bottle of 2009 Cape Winemakers Guild Auction Reserve will be among the line-up of rare wines to go under the hammer at the 27th annual Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction at Spier near Stellenbosch on Saturday. The proceeds of this collector’s wine will go towards the guild’s Protege Programme, a mentorship initiative for young, upcoming winemakers.
The bottle contains a blend of top 2009 vintage wines from the members of the guild. It was blended by Duncan Savage of Cape Point Vineyards and Andries Burger of Paul Cluver Estate Wines.
Exceptional wines with a great diversity of styles are the hallmarks of the Guild’s 2011 auction which takes place just two weeks after the Nederburg Auction where professional wine buyers surprised most observers by snapping up every case of wine.
Open to the wine trade and the general public, the CWG Auction offers 56 wines this year. All the wines were made for the auction by members of the guild to represent the pinnacle of what can be achieved in South African winemaking.
This year’s auction wines include 38 red wines, 13 white wines, 2 Methode Cap Classiques, a dessert wine, a port and a potstill brandy.
The annual guild auction affords trade buyers and wine lovers the opportunity to obtain these investment wines at great prices. The recent success at the Nederburg Auction at a time of global recession, bodes well for our exciting offering this year. We are particularly pleased that the changes to our selection criteria in order to boost creativity for our auction wines have received really positive feedback from leading wine and media commentators,” says guild chairman Louis Strydom.
The CWG enabled leading wine critics to taste the auction line-up by showcasing the wines at specialist tastings both locally and abroad this year. In addition to a blind tasting by South African wine writers, nine leading wine protagonists in the United Kingdom, including Jancis Robinson, Matthew Jukes and Neal Martin, attended a tasting in London, whilst USA wine scribes Steve Tanzer and James Molesworth tasted the wines in New York.
The Cape Winemakers Guild Auction has developed a following of overseas trade buyers and collectors in recent years. Following on from the guild’s overseas tastings, registrations and proxy bids are flowing in from Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.
The 27th Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction is open to the public and will be
held at the Spier Conference Centre in the Stellenbosch Winelands on Saturday, 1 October.
In the picture above is Johannesburg restaurateur Alan Pick, who is expected to be a big buyer again on Saturday at the CWG Auction.
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