With the Cape Wine 2012 Trade Show coming to a successful conclusion, it was time for Brad and I to take to the hills and valleys and visit South African wine country. We were both amazed by the sudden jump in the general quality of the South African wine we tasted at Cape Wine, and our enthusiasm was to continue with each and every visit we made to the wineries themselves. The downside of this for us was that there was far more great wine in South Africa than we could possibly buy for ABC at present, so some of the wines I mention here may or may not become part of the ABC portfolio.

Our first visit was to a very pleasant general store cum restaurant for breakfast where we met with David Finlayson of Edgebaston Winery (who we had previously met for lunch on the waterfront) and Niels Verburg from Luddite Wines located in the tiny town of Bot River. And yes, we did some serious early morning wine tasting while munching on our breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs and toast.

At 6’4” and with a beaming, all-encompassing smile Niels Verburg exudes his delight in wine, which for him means Shiraz. And what Shiraz! With very small production, and a focus almost entirely on one wine, Niels uses his ‘Luddite’ philosophy to produce a Shiraz that can stand up to any in the world. He explains: “The nitty gritty of good winemaking is to have good grapes, good yeast and good barrels. Being hi-tech and cutting edge isn’t important to me. When you go into a winery and see the centrifuges and reverse osmosis, it’s like going into the kitchen of a top restaurant and seeing a microwave, you think ‘Hey, that’s not right’.”

Then we had a chance to re-try a few of the Edgebaston wines which, due to a potential legal suit, will be released under a new name – more on that later. Winemaker/Owner David Finlayson is a third generation winemaker who gained winemaking experience with Peter Lehmann in Australia, Te Mata in New Zealand and then at the world renowned Chateau Margaux in Bordeaux. We got a chance to taste his delicious Edgebaston GS Cabernet Sauvignon – the ’08 received 93 points from Wine Enthusiast - which he makes in honor of past South African winemaker George Spies. Spies is somewhat forgotten these days but he

produced two legendary vintages of Cabernet Sauvignon – in 1966 and 1968. These two vintages are spoken of in reverential tones as the ultimate in South African wine. David once sat down with James Molesworth, senior editor of Wine Spectator, to taste the ’66 GS along with a ’66 Haut-Brion. Molesworth pronounced that the GS certainly held its own and awarded it 95 points.

At that point, to our delight and amazement, David pulled out a bottle of ’68 GS for us to try. The wine itself, I admit, was a little past it, and it lost whatever fruit it had fairly quickly, but for one glorious moment we had the chance to taste a wine that was not only a legend, but was one of the last surviving bottles in existence.

And that was only breakfast! More on the rest of the day next time….

Bill
Stobbs, ABC Wine Supervisor

(Follow me on Twitter @abcwinebills)