22 May 2009

Pinotage Blend Wins Trophy for South African Red Blend over £10 Trophy




Schalk (left) and Tiaan Burger
Welbedacht Hat Trick 2006 won the Trophy for Best South African Red Blend over £10 at the 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards in London.

Welbedacht Hat Trick 2006 is a Cape Blend of 50% Pinotage, 25% Syrah and 25% Merlot.

Schalk Burger Snr, owner of Welbedacht, is delighted with the result. “What makes this so special is that this category is hotly contested. Winning a Trophy Award in this category is an amazing achievement for us.”

Cellar Master Jacques Wentzel says 2006 is fast becoming a superb vintage for fruit flavours, which lie at the heart of the Welbedacht Hat Trick.

“The core of this blend has been the immense fruit focus which culminates in the Pinotage contributing fresh red berries and the more complex plum flavours. The Syrah adds the spice and floral flavours, while the Merlot rounds it off with the fullness that it adds to the final mouth feel,” he says. “These cultivars beautifully express the terroir of our estate and encapsulate our winemaking philosophy, namely to make wines that are varietal expressive. The quality of our blend is also helped by the fact that we built our cellar to suit our fruit.”

The name ‘Welbedacht’ means “well thought out” in Dutch - a fitting name for this increasingly prestigious wine farm where great care is taken to express each wine and cultivar’s unique character.

“As only traditional methods are used to make our wines, we believe that the 2006 Welbedacht Cape blend embodies all the attributes of a rare hat trick, and as such, a black label is awarded to it,” he concludes.

Congratulations to everyone at Welbedacht -- and to Pinotage for gaining both the red single varietal Trophy (see below) and for being the major part of the red Bldn Tropy.

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