Vergelegen Merlot 2006
This is a lush, full-bodied wine with a little bit of spice on the palate and lots of ripe, red fruit flavours. It is smooth as silk and satisfying in every way. We are happy to drink it on it’s own but love to pair it with a rich meat stew like cottage pie. This is very much a comfort drink.
At R135.91 ($19) per bottle it is more an occasional wine rather than a daily tipple.
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The last time that such a poll was undertaken was in 2006. Reviewing the results Tim points out several aspects such as the fact that the top five wineries were in a league of their own; that ten of the Top 20 wineries were not even mentioned in the 2001 poll and that four wineries are complete newcomers to the poll.
From a perspective of production areas the winning wineries represent only one of the five South African wine regions, Coastal Region, and within that only the wine districts of Cape Point, Stellenbosch, Paarl and Swartland. The Overberg and Walker Bay districts where Paul Cluver, Hamilton-Russell Vineyards and Bouchard Finlayson are found do not fall into a particular region.
Parameters were set for the judging so that each winery had to have had at least three vintages of marketed wines.
In order of votes received the wineries are:
On the voting panel were wine writers Tim Atkin, Michael Fridjhon, Joanne Gibson, Edo Heyns, Tim James, Angela Lloyd, Melvyn Minnaar, Fiona McDonald, Christine Rudman, Cathy van Zyl, Philip van Zyl.
Retailers: Carrie Adams, Carolyn Barton, Ingrid Motteux, Roland Peens, James Pietersen, Caroline Rillema
Sommeliers and others who took part were Miguel Chan, Neil Grant, Higgo Jacobs, Cathy Marston, Andre Morgenthal, Joerg Pfuetzner, Kent Scheermeyer and Jonathan Steyn.
For the complete article visit www.grape.co.za
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Tags: Angela Lloyd, Boekenhoutskloof, Bouchard Finlayson, Cape Point Vineyards, Cape Town, Cathy van Zyl, Chamonix, Christine Rudman, De Trafford, Edo Heyns, Fiona McDonald, Hamilton-", Hamilton-Russell Vineyards, Hartenberg, Joanne Gibson, Jordan, Kanonkop, Le Riche, Meerlust, Melvyn Minnaar, Michael Fridjohn, Morgenster, Neil Ellis, Paul Cluver, Philip van Zyl, Rustenberg, Sadie Family Wines, South Africa, Steenberg Vineyards, Thelema, Tim Atkin, Tim James, Tokara, Vergelegen, wine
According to Decanter.com, Vergelegen, voted Best South African Winery for 5 years running by Wine magazine readers, has suffered at least 1 million pounds of damage from bush fires which ravaged the estate’s property in February and March, destroying 11ha of its 150 ha of vines. These included a parcel of virus-free quality clones developed to improve vine material in South Africa.
Winemaker, Andre van Rensburg, called the loss of this vine improvement scheme a “borderline disaster. We have been selected to develop virus-free vines to supply cuttings to the industry and this will set the programme back at least six years. Clones of that quality are not readily available in South Africa.” Van Rensburg also discarded one-quarter of the 2009 red crop as a precaution against smoke taint. Volumes will be reduced by as much as 4,000 cases.
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Tags: Andre Van Rensburg, Decanter, Vergelegen, Wine Magazine
