When faced with a trio of invitations: Woolies, the launch of the next vintage of Vin de Constance and the launch of the new premium range from Perdeberg, what does the conscientious wine hack do? This was the problem faced by many a Cape wino this lunch time although Dear Me as a venue and the matchless food of Vanessa Marx probably swayed the odds. I would also bet that the best wines of the day were poured at Dear Me with the entire Dry Land Collection [DLC] from Perdeberg cheaper than a single bottle of Vin de Constance which is best bought in the UK where the retail price is less than the trade price in SA, according to one Cape Town retailer. Here are DLC winemakers Riaan, Carla and Albertus. For Japanese, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, often abbreviated to DRC, becomes DLC. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

This DLC is awesome and at not more than R80 a bottle, a total miss-mark. The barrel fermented Chenin Blanc 2011 at R68 is a benchmark in the rich and voluptuous style pioneered by Teddy Hall and Ken Forrester. Wonderfull. The unwooded 2013 is R6 cheaper and a stick-away in the cellar.

The screw cap fraternity will be freaked to hear that Perdeberg have abandoned screw caps for natural cork in their reserve range. Red winemaker Riaan said his wines age better under cork. The sound of bow ties unravelling is deafening. These are definitely not wines to enter at the cork-averse Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show.

For R78, the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon is perfumed elegance and less than a quarter of the price of those tomato paste numbers from Stellenbosch. The 2010 Joseph’s Legacy Shiraz blend is R2 more and worth it if you’re in watching the Ozzies get beaten at cricket.

The 2011 Shiraz is fine and focussed while the 2011 Pinotage has none of those angular notes some winos find so objectionable. Vanessa’s food was amazing: goat’s cheese and grenadilla with the rich and tropical Sauvignon Blanc 2013 and the highlight, a beef skilpaadjie that should be called a faggote (below), but perhaps not in the gay capital of SA.

A tour-de-force from the Voor Paardeberg, or Poor Varterberg as it’s called in Wine Spectator. This is the best value range of premium wines available today in SA with the prices discounted by at least 50% if quality is a measure. Brian Joffe’s Bidvest Group will handle distribution, so the sky’s the limit for the Dry Land Collection.