POW! – the Paarl Oscars of Wine – went POP! in the Reserve of the Taj Hotel this afternoon when the Perdeberg Winery won the inaugural Paarl Poppie for their Dry Lands Collection Joseph’s Legacy 2012 red blend. The award was decided by the public who voted on the ten Best of Paarl wines short-listed and show-cased at the Pendock Wine Gallery @ Taj during the month of September. Not only was the wine the public’s favourite, it was also the top selling wine of the exhibition. Runner up was the KWV Chardonnay 2012. Here winemaker Carla Cutting poses with the Poppie and Kalinka Lombard, who some claimed was the model for the pop. Not true, as Kalinka is way more beautiful.

What made the award unique was that it was chosen by punters – those wine lovers who keep the great wheel of SA wine rolling – rather than anoraks, CWMs and MWs. The venue was a former bank vault and for once we had a wine competition not sponsored by a bank. Banks were kept firmly in their place – underground – and not headlining and stealing the limelight with shareholders’ money. Which is how it should be. Back in your box, banksters, is the message from POW! and reconsider those outrageous bank charges. Put those boring bank managers back to playing solitaire on their office PCs and not ruining lunch at awards functions. Panzi ABSA, FNB, Nedbank, RMB, Old Mutual and Standard, Panzi!