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Something for the little ones

Whether last month’s Stellenbosch Wine Festival really was the country’s  largest will probably be decided by the courts, with organizers threatening violence with a Riedel-champagne flute to the promoters of a competing show who begged to differ.

With 106 producers exhibiting their wares at the Paul Roos Gymnasium and such special attractions as a 10 year vertical tasting Warwick Trilogy and Kanonkop Pinotage and Paul Sauner and the head of the Australian Wine Producers Association leading a workshop on Shiraz(a grape the Aussies have something of a reputation for), the festival was a great success.

Producers were arranged by appellation, rather than alphabetically, which confirms how seriously Stellenbosch takes the idea of terroir. SA’s most famous wine writer, John Platter, opened the festival, finally laying the ghost of the controversial BBC “dop system” interview to rest that saw the platters leave town for KwaZulu-Natal and points even further north, a decade ago.
Such wine shows are really for the little guys and gals, which established names leaving their best wines at home – no V from Vergelegen(winemaker Andre van Rensberg claiming its all sold out), whole shiraz winner Kleine Zalze had only previous vintages for tasting.

Which gives newbies like Rainbow’s End with their excellent budget Bordeaux blend Complexite, Cramberley Wines and the irrepressible Johnny Nel with his Philospher’s Stone and the delightful wines from Alluvia in the Banhoek Valley, a chance to shine.