No cultivar for old men

All you needed was a cow euthanizer to transform today’s ABSA Top Ten Pinotage lunch into a Bacchanalian remake of the Coen brothers classic No Country for Old Men. For the average age of the Top Ten winemakers was surely under 30 and Meerkat maker Jacques Wentzel (below) was pure Javier Bardem in his buttoned up black coat. At R35 a bottle, his 2009 Meerkat must be one of the cheapest wines to make the top ten in the 15 years the competition has been running. With 70% of winners less than three years old (three 2010s and four 2009s), Pinotage is a young wine made by young men and statuesque Debbie Thompson, whose Simonsig Redhill 2008 was a tour de force.

Jacques Wentzel

Jacques Wentzel

That said, the most complete wine for me in the lineup was a 2006 Kanonkop and winemaker Abrie Beeslaer told the best jokes. “People used to say that great wines are made in the vineyards until the salaries of viticulturalists matched those of winemakers.”

Twenty wines were shown to a capacity crowd at Webersburg on the Helderberg and were matched in four flights of five wines with spectacular boere kos by chef Nadia Roux. The best course was a trio of spicy SA fish – a snoek tian with Pinotage chutney, trout fish and three chips and Cape salmon done Malay style – which surprisingly worked with the red wines.

Debbie Thompson

Debbie Thompson

The ABSA Top Ten ticked many style boxes: a delicate Pinot Noir expression from Laibach and Diemersdal (both 2010 wines); exotic elegance from Spier’s 21 Gables and the Fairview Primo; fresh-faced approachability in the Meerkat and serious density from Rijk’s. Likewise most of the leading appellations had their heroes: Stellenbosch, Swartland, Durbanville, Wellington and Coastal. The wines are terrific. The winemakers, definite Oscar material.