Talking Wine
Tri Nations Results Released
SA has not done particularly well in this competition over the years, with the Aussies and a resurgent New Zealand dominating. Again Australia dominated, with the McWilliams Mount Pleasant Lovedale Semillon 2003 winning best white wine and wine of the show, and the Stoney Rise Pinot Noir 2006 winning best red wine.
This was a departure from previous years, where New Zealand has dominated both the Best Wine award, and the Pinot Noir class. New Zealand again dominated the Shiraz class, showing the Aussies a clear pair of heels in what is supposed to be their pet category. In fact, the top three Shiraz in 2008 were all New Zealand, and all from the Gimblett Gravels sub region in Hawkes Bay which is producing some very exciting wines.
What was a bit puzzling was how under represented South Africa was in many of the classes. We seemed to be outnumbered by some proportion, for reasons unknown. Whether this was because it was deemed that there wasn't enough wines worthy of a place, or simply reluctance on the part of producers to be involved isn't clear. Perhaps this paucity of numbers goes some way to explaining the generally lacklustre results for the South Africa category.
The other notable difference is with regard to closures. South Africa is some way behind when it comes to the uptake of screw caps, a fact reinforced by a comparison between the three countries. 74% of Australian wines and 72% of New Zealand wines entered were sealed under screw cap, but only 20% of the South Africans. Only 4% of South African red wines entered were under screw cap.
We were delighted that our humble little Dombeya Chardonnay 2006 was chosen to represent South Africa. We didn't win a medal, but a little birdie told us that we did receive some votes which is a great validation for this terrific wine, now unfortunately sold out.
For full results go to Tri Nations Wines
Click here to go to Dombeya Wines website.