The 2013 vintage of Bouchard Finlayson’s iconic Tête de Cuvée Galpin Peak Pinot Noir has scored a gold medal in the Six Nations Wine Challenge 2018, in a prestigious line-up of the best ‘New World Wines’.
The Six Nations Wine Challenge is a unique benchmark in excellence for the six competing nations and promotes the outstanding quality, diversity and richness of wines produced in Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Canada, the USA and South Africa. With Michael Fridjhon from South Africa as Chairman of Judges, fellow judges from each competing country – Huon Hooke (Australia), Bob Campbell MW (New Zealand), Eduardo Brethauer (Chile), Patrick Comiskey (USA) and Christopher Waters (Canada), chose their best local wines to compete in a giant blind tasting of 600 wines. Each judge selected 100 wines across the 16 classes with a maximum of ten in any one class, to determine the best in their country, regardless of company size or quantity available.
Tête de Cuvée Galpin Peak Pinot Noir is Bouchard Finlayson’s Icon Wine and has been collecting awards for 21 years (since 1997). The label presents a selection of the estate’s top Pinot Noir barrels from a particular vintage as the winemakers’ opportunity to showcase the very best of their unique terroir and winemaking. South Africa’s ‘Pinot Pioneer’ Peter Finlayson explains that Tête de Cuvée’s appeal lies in its extraordinary quality and exclusivity: ‘Tête de Cuvée is a limited edition bottling of only the best Pinot noir barrels for any single vintage. It is not produced every year, but here is an opportunity to spoil and take advantage of the best of this quality fruit, which traditionally derives from the same specific terroir. It is an honour to be recognised in this prestigious competition and included amongst the champions of the New World.’
The 2013 vintage is described as a ‘fruits of the forest’ wine where the colour is deep and the body is firm and bold. ‘It is a complex wine which demands aging to develop its core of complexity with delicious raspberry, quince and blackberry flavours. This adds to the nutty tones offered by the generous compliment of wood, with a tannin-rich, but harmonious finish.’
(Cellar door price: R962 per bottle incl VAT)
