Proudly Pinotage at London Wine Fair

Winning Pinotages will be poured at the London International Wine Fair that starts tomorrow 12 May and runs for three days at the Excel exhibition complex on the banks of the Thames river in London's docklands.

The Pinotage Association are funding two stands: one will show all 10 winning wines from the 2008 Pinotage Top 10 Competition, the other will show a selection of Pinotages from new and small producers.

If you are coming to LIWF make a point at stopping at stands 4 and 20 on the Wines of South Africa island L50 in the centre of the hall.

Be seeing you ...

What did I learn working at LIWSF?

So what did I learn from pouring Top 10 Pinotage at the London International Wine & Spirit Fair?

• Wear comfortable shoes – I got a blister on the second day
• Anything left at the corner of the stand gets taken
• Most crackers are eaten by people who never taste the wine
• The Pinotage Aroma wheel intrigues people and is very popular
• The concept of 10 equal winners confuses many
• WoSA have a great location in the middle of the hall
• The aircon doesn’t work in the middle of the hall
• Don’t eat in the Excel restaurants
• WoSA and their staff do a tremendous job – glasses were constantly replenished.

Visitors to the stand fell into 4 distinct groups.

1. Those studying for wine certification, especially Master of Wine and the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma, who tasted all 10 wines to help understand the variety and appreciated being able to do so on one stand.
2. Winemakers from other countries – especially France, Spain and eastern Europe – who were fascinated by the wines.
3. Restaurateurs, sommeliers and independent wine shop owners looking for good wines that are not available in supermarkets – being competition winners elevated the wines from the others. For those wines for which I didn’t have distributor information I took the business card of the enquirer and contacted the winery via the Pinotage Association.
4. Everyone else: those new to South Africa wines, those that liked Pinotage and wanted to taste the winners, those that thought they didn’t like Pinotage and wanted to check again, passers by – the Pinotage Association stand was on a corner of the main WoSA exhibit in the centre of the hall so almost every visitor passed it at some time.
   

Some comments:
“Which is the best”
Me “They all are – they are the Top 10 Pinotages”
“Yes, but one must be best”

“So Wellington Cellar is the cheapest?”
Me “I don’t have the retail price of the wines”
“Isn’t that why it is at the end of the row?”
Me “The wines are in alphabetical order, from Allee Bleue to Wellington”

It was tremendous fun, but hard work, pouring Pinotage for three days from 09:30 to 18:00.

I'm Pouring the Pinotage Top 10 at LIWSF

The Pinotage Association will be showing the ten winners from the latest ABSA Top Ten Pinotage Competition at the London International Wine and Spirits Fair from 22 - 24 May 2007.

I am delighted that the Association have asked me to staff their stand and pour the wines.

If you are attending the show, please do take the time to visit me at the Proudly Pinotage stall, which will be in the Wines of South Africa complex located in the centre of the hall at L40/L50.

Hope to see you.

The winning wines are:

• Allée Bleue 2005
• Boland Cellar Winemakers Selection 2004*
• Camberley 2005*
• Clos Malverne Reserve 2003
• Kanonkop 2004
• Morewag 2002*
• Pulpit Rock 2004*
• Stellenzicht Golden Triangle 2005
• Tukulu Papkuilsfontein 2004
• Wellington Cellar Reserve 2003*

* = first time winner

LIWSF 2005

Wines of South Africa featured a tasting stand of six different varieties over the three days of London's International Wine & Spirit Fair held in May 2004. I staffed the stand on the Pinotage day where I poured

Bergsig 2002
Beyerskloof Reserve 2002
Citrusdal Cardouw 2001
Kaapzicht Estate Steytler 2001
La Cave 2002
Lord Neethling 1999
Middelvlei 2000
Slaley 2002
Southern Right 2002
Stellenzicht Golden Triangle 2001
Tukulu 2001
Viljoensdrift 2002
Wildekrans 2002

There was a lot of interest and the stand was busy all the time. A French party from OIV (International Office of Vine and Wine) wanted to taste Pinotage which they'd only heard about and several sommeliers and restauranteurs came looking for Pinotages to list, especially those not currently distributed in the UK so they could have an exclusive.

Some people came with colleagues who didn't want to taste as they 'didn't like Pinotage.' But when encouraged to take a glass they all revised their opinion. The best way to overcome negativity against Pinotage is to let people taste the wonderful wines now being made.