NEWS
Blaauwklippen celebrates amateur blenders
Staff reporter
Posted Wed, 16 Aug 2006

Although it may lack the fanfare of the country’s major wine events, for some South African wine lovers the second weekend in August is a fun date in their calendar.

This is when the winner of the annual Blaauwklippen Blending Competition is announced — the only competition in the country where the wine is blended by enthusiastic amateurs rather than professional wine makers.

And the 2006 winner is the Knysna Wynproegilde. Its winning blend will be bottled as a Blaauwklippen Barouche.

Since the competition was started 23 years ago, many of the resulting blends have gone on to win other prestigious industry awards.

This year the event attracted 54 wine clubs nationally, all of which were sent four different wines and asked to blend a particular style of wine. The Blaauwklippen base wines were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz and Mouvedre and the amateur blenders were told to aim for a fruit-driven wine that can be enjoyed immediately, but with maturation potential. Only 15% Merlot was allowed.

Each club then submitted its recipe and a panel of judges tasted the blends and selected the four semi-finalists. The panel included wine writer Neil Pendock and Veritas judge Wendy Burridge and it narrowed the competition down to the Wine Tasters Guild of South Africa from the Western Cape; the Knysna Wynproegilde from the Eastern Cape; Natalia Wine Society from KwaZulu Natal; and the Loerie Wine Gurglers from Gauteng.

There is no monetary prize although the winning club receives engraved decanters and a selection of Blaauwklippen wines, but Rolf Zeitvogel, Blaauwklippen estate manager and winemaker, says the real prestige for the amateur winemakers is having the name of their club displayed on the back label of the wine Blaauwklippen produces according to their recipe.

“At its essence the competition is about celebrating people who love wine and who want to try their hand at creating something special.”

Current Blaauwklippen products that originated from the competition are the Blaauwklippen BVS Sauvignon Blanc 2004 (Natalia Wine Society) and the Blaauwklippen Barouche blend 2003 (Oude Molen Wynkring).

Blaauwklippen’s Vineyard Selection Cabriolet has won the diamond award for the best Bordeaux blend at the Winemakers’ Choice awards.