WELLINGTON is in the process of being granted independent status as a district by the wine demarcation committee.
Until now Wellington has been a ward of the much larger Paarl area and is beginning to flex its muscles at the prospect of independence.
Daan Coetzee, chairman of the Wellington Wine Route, says the time had come for Wellington to challenge and change the stereotypes that exist about wines from the area.
“Everyone automatically assumes that Wellington is hot – without appreciating that there are very specific pockets of terroir and cooler areas within the greater Wellington area.”
This was a comment echoed by Dave Hughes, chairman of the panel convened to taste and rate the best that Wellington has to offer in the inaugural Quest for the Best event held recently.
“Yes, this place can be incredibly hot in summer, but I’ve experienced some of the coldest nights in my life in Wellington! It just depends on where you are because there are some very cool places around here.”
Hughes was speaking at the awards function which was the culmination of the 2010 Quest for the Best which followed hot on the heels of the announcement that Wellington was adjudged the top terroir region in the SA Terroir Wine Awards recently.
Coetzee explained that the Wine Route had asked all members to submit two wines to a blind peer review. The best of those 108 submission wines went forward to be judged by an independent panel convened by Dave Hughes.
“I asked Duimpie Bayly CWM to get involved because of his years of experience in production with Distell and his expertise as a member of the demarcation committee,” Hughes said.
Other panellists were Christine Rudman CWM, former principal of the Cape Wine Academy and marketing expert, Johnathan Steyn of Balthazar restaurant for his consumer expertise, along with wine writer and former Wine magazine editor Fiona McDonald.
Overall 36 wines, three brandies and one grappa were tasted.
The best white wine was Bosman Family Vineyards’ 2009 Optenhorst Chenin Blanc, while the prize for the best red went to Bovlei Winery for its 2009 Vineyard Selected Shiraz. The latter was also deemed the overall top wine and awarded the Mutual & Federal trophy.
In an informal feedback session the judges commended a number of things which they believe sets Wellington up for a positive future.
“The wines we tasted were technically sound and well made – and the Pinotages were really good quality,” said Bayly.
“For me, the red wines definitely have an edge over the whites in terms of overall quality,” Christine Rudman opined.
“Having said that, the Chenin Blancs are superb. You have a wonderful resource in lovely old vines, so use them. Also, some really exciting blends – both red and white.
“We really enjoyed the fact that we saw grapes like Zinfandel and Sangiovese blended with Shiraz, Pinotage and Merlot.”
On the subject of fruit, Johnathan Steyn noted a very distinct character to the white wines in particular.
“There’s a definite white peach, stone fruit and nectarine thumb print to all the wines from Wellington. The fruit spectrum is quite different – especially if you were to compare a Chenin Blanc from here to one from Robertson, say. There’s none of that guava, melon or spanspek character.”
McDonald also commented on the massive strides Wellington has made.
“I can recall visiting Wellington 15 or more years ago and there were only about five wineries. Nowadays you’re spoiled for choice with a host of new cellars having opened up.
The other awards went to Wellington Cellars for their 2009 Chardonnay, to Diemersfontein for their 2008 Carpe Diem Pinotage and the Diemersfontein Thokozani SMV (best red blend) and to Napier for the Sir George Potstill Brandy.
