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6th June 2008
2008 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show
With wines judged using the 100-Point System
Trophy awarded to highest-scoring gold medal winner in a class
What the Show says about SA Wine quality in 2008, by Michael Fridjhon, Chairman of the judges
The Merlot class yielded a particularly impressive solo gold.
Angela Lloyd
I was on the Merlot panel, which again is a very difficult category - although we did find a gold there that shines.
Christian Eedes
There's a hell of a lot of stressed fruits, weedy green Merlot and it's actually rubbish. By the same token, there are some guys working very hard with the grape who have the right site, first and foremost. We picked out a really super Merlot that's really clean, really fresh. In fact it nearly didn't get its gold because of how technically correct and pure it was. The debate among the panel was that it's like telling the world's most beautiful woman to have plastic surgery to have her nose bent so she looks more interesting! I think fruit purity is a mantra we should all adopt.
Anthony Rose
As Christian mentioned, there is a problem of greenness on quite a lot of the reds, due either to stress or under-ripeness, or both. Clearly that is an issue that needs to be addressed. The trouble is that the corollary of that, if you look at the Merlots, is that there is a lot of over-ripeness. A lot of the wines that we had were porty, cooked, baked, jammy, and so I can see there's a dilemma. You want to avoid going porty, so you perhaps compensate by picking early to try and retain that freshness, and there were some wines where - perhaps it's my European palate - but I gave allowances for a little bit of herbaceousness, a little bit of leafiness al la Loire Valley or St Emilion where the fruit was ripe. I think we gave two or three silvers in that style, which I thought was a very valid style.
Media Release: 2008 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show Awards
Feedback at the post-judging judges' feedback session focused on the strength of certain classes – notably white blends, wooded whites (including Sauvignon Blanc), Chenin Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, fortified and dessert wines. The judges were particularly pleased with the top Merlot and the overall quality of the Shiraz category.
Hand selected grapes from two vineyards on 155m above sea level planted during 1996 and 2000 on a heavy clay/gravel soil, facing south and west to create a wine with natural fruit from the cool south slope and complexity, colour and structure from the warmer west slope.
The grapes were harvested @ 26°B from the 3rd till the 8th of March 2005 with yields of 3 – 4 tons per ha. It fermented without sulphur but with selected yeast at 29°C.
Traditional punging down and pump over was done four times per day. Skin contact of three weeks commenced before pressing lightly. 30% of the wine finished the Malo Lactic fermentation in new French Oak barrels of 300 lit in size.
This wine is 100% Oak matured, only French Oak, by 30% new, 30% 2nd fill and 40% 3rd fill, and for 14 months at 14°C. No filtration of fining before wood maturation nor racking during this period.
Only the best barrels were blend together and after only an egg white fining only 15 000 bottles were bottled on the 1st December 2006.
The allocation for South Africa, Namibia and Botswana is 4 800 bottles. This fine cool climate Merlot with its moderate acid will mature into a more complex and elegant wine. Decant to enjoy it now or cellar it for another 3 – 5 years.
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| 2008 Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show |
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| The Merlot class yielded a particularly impressive solo gold.
The Saxenburg Private Collection M... |
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| Find out what’s happening at Saxenburg today and in the coming months... |
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