Early in January Michelin Star Chef and Wine Journalist, Roger Jones hosted a Battle of The Bubbles in Cape Town to highlight the emergence of South African Cap Classique Sparkling wines and compare them to the rest of the World.

Last year he had hosted a duo between South Africa and England, with a resounding victory for South Africa, This year the Challenge was opened up to a much bigger participation, to see how South Africa would do on the World Stage. The judging panel of 25 was made up of both British and South Africans and included some of Cape Town’s top Sommeliers, the head of wines at Woolworths; Allan Mullins, WOSA’s CEO; Siobhan Thompson, International Wine Judges; Dr Winnie Bowman, Angela Lloyd, Lynne Sherriff MW & Fiona McDonald.

The process was simple taste 37 sparkling wines blind in an air conditioned room (the temperature outside was a sunny 30 degrees) and mark the wines out of 20, the results were corroborated by a non-judging team.

England did not get into the top 10, the best being Sugrue Pierre 2010 coming in at number 12, but Australia or more to the point Tasmania had 4 wines in the top 10 and New Zealand’s Nautilus NV coming in at number 4. Von Bull’s Brut Reserve Riesling excited many and came 14th.

The winner for the second year in a row was Graham Beck’s Cuvée Clive narrowly beating Charles Heidsieck Brut Reserve, Cuvée Clive is a limited release Prestige Sparkler that is available in limited amounts in the UK.