Shiraz and Chenin in Paarl

It’s off to Nederburg (below) again tomorrow to judge Shiraz and Chenin for the Paarl Vintners Competition. Let’s hope that this year’s winning Shiraz will be made from grapes grown in Paarl, which is not always the case. Great to see a wine route have enough confidence in its terroir to arrange a competition to test drive it, blind.

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A couple of interesting judges in the line-up:

Ken Forrester (Chairman – Chenin Blanc tasting)
Nico Vermeulen (Chairman – Shiraz tasting)
Dewaldt Heyns
Richard Rowe
Jacque Borman
Neil Pendock
Norman McFarlane
Neil Grant
Josephine Gutentoft

A couple of sommeliers, a couple of winewriters, two chairmen and a trio of winemakers. But what happened to the chefs? Most wine is drunk at mealtimes and Paarl has no shortage of great chefs like Matthew Gordon at Laborie, Marc Friedrich and Roland Gorgosilich at the Grande Roche.