Yesterday I attended the Winemag.co.za 10 Year Wine Awards at Magica Roma in Pinelands, and 19 wines (six white wines, ten red wines, and three fortified wines) scored 90 points or more. Tokara won the most awards, with three of the 19 awards collected by its GM Karl Lambour. Tokara Elgin Sauvignon Blanc 2007 and Nuy Muscadel 2007 were the highest scoring wines, at 94 points out of 100. 

Winemag’s Jacqueline Lahoud thanked judges Roland Peens and James Pietersen of Wine Cellar, under the chairmanship of Winemag editor Christian Eedes, who evaluated the 72 entries submitted by 41 producers. Only the wines scoring 90 points or more received certificates. 

 Christian said that Winemag had last awarded 10 Year Old wines four years ago, and it had been decided to reinstate the awards, to bring ‘formality to older wines‘.  He said that South African wine making and its quality has made great strides over the years, and that great wines had been made in the ‘Sixties and ‘Seventies already. 

The media statement commented as follows about older wines: ‘one of the most important measures of great wine is that it be age-worthy, that it should become more pleasurable and more interesting to drink with time in the bottle, but the capacity of local wines to deliver on this is typically not examined in any meaningful way. Winemag.co.za therefore felt it important to initiate the 10 Year Old WineAwards’. 

Of the 10 Year Old Wines evaluated, 15 were white wines, one was a sparkling wine, 52 were red wines, and four were fortified wines. Christian added that the wines evaluated were ‘remarkably intact’, and exceeded expectations. ‘They are sound’, he said, but the question he asked is if they can deliver for another ten years. He said that the white wines performed better than the red wines. The fortified wines performed best of all. 

The nineteen 10 Year Old wines scoring 90 points or more are the following:

Chardonnay
Tokara Stellenbosch 2007 – 91 (Karl Lambour left)
La Bri – 90

Chenin Blanc
DeMorgenzon Reserve 2007 – 91
Rudera Robusto 2007 – 91
Jordan Barrel Fermented 2007 – 90

Sauvignon Blanc
Tokara Elgin 2007 – 94

Cabernet Sauvignon
Neil Ellis Vineyard Selection Jonkershoek Valley 2007 – 91 (Warren Ellis right)
Le Riche Reserve 2007 – 90

Pinot Noir
Hamilton Russell Vineyards 2007 – 91

Red blends
Simonsig Tiara 2007 – 92
Tokara Director’s Reserve 2007 – 92
Remhoogte Estate 2007 – 91
Villiera Monro 2007 – 91 (Jeff Grier left)
Daylea 2007 (Grangehurst) – 90

Shiraz/Syrah
Haut Espoir 2007 – 91
Simonsig Merindol 2007- 90

Muscadel
Nuy 2007 – 94

Port-style Fortified
Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2007 – 91
Bredell’s Cape Vintage Reserve 2007 – 90

Magica Roma was chosen as the venue for the awards event, being ‘vintage‘, reflecting the wines evaluated, Jax said. We were spoilt with a generous selection of Italian canapés, including veal with salsa verde, crumbed mushrooms, aubergine slices filled with vegetables, calamari, arancini balls, Caprese on skewers, cheese cubes, crumbed fish, fish cakes, and mini pizzas. 

Winemag 10 Year Old Wine Awards 2017, www.winemag.co.za  Twitter:@winemag @christianeedes @JaxLahoud  Instagram@christian.eedes @jaxlahoud

Magica Roma, 8 Central Square, Pinelands, Cape Town. Tel (021) 531-1489. Facebook. 

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter: @Ulmenstein Facebook: click here Instagram: @Chris_Ulmenstein