Dombeya Open Day 7 May 2011Review

by Werner Els

The Dombeya Open Day was held on Saturday the 7th of May and even thought it was a very windy day in the winelands, the Dombeya Team was ready to welcome wine lovers and spoil them with wine from the past, the present and the future.

Activities at the Open Day included:

Masterclass Tasting
Cellarmaster Rianie Strydom hosted Dombeya Masterclass tasting. Discussing the subject, ‘‘Vintage Variation- does this apply to South Africa?”, whilst examining the role of blending in achieving consistency of style from year to year.

Vertical tasting
A rare treat for the visitors were the vertical tasting of the Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet, Samara and Shiraz as to see how the wines have developed over the years and how the wines that are still to be released match up to those from the past.

Wine specials
As a special for the Open Day, clients could buy a vertical pack of the 2006 Gold Veritas Winning Samara as well as the multi award winning 2005 Samara that received accolades like:
* Double Gold Medal winner, 2008 Michelangelo International Wine Awards
* Top 10 Bordeaux Blends in South Africa, 2008 Calyon Trophy Show
* 4 Stars, WINE Magazine, March 2008
* 4 Stars, WINE Magazine, Bordeaux Blends Issue, September 2008
* 2nd Best Value for Money Bordeaux Blend in SA – December ’08 Wine Magazine
* Stephen Tanzer – 89 points
* Gary Walsh, The Wine Front – 92 points
* Wine Spectator Reviews by James Molesworth – 89 points

Blind Tasting Competition
For the wine tasters that was brave enough to rise to the occasion and stand a chance to win 6 bottles of Dombeya wines, could test their wine knowledge with a blind tasting.
The mystery wines were:
Wine 1 – Shiraz
Wine 2 – Cabernet Sauvignon
Wine 3 – Petit Verdot
Wine 4 – Cabernet / Shiraz Blend (60/40)
Wine 5 – Merlot
Congratulations to Joe Grobelaar for winning the blind tasting competition.

Lucky Draw
If your taste buds weren’t up to the task, visitors could also enter our lucky draw, in which they could win a bottle of Samara 2006 and Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
Congratulations to Linda Harding for winning the lucky draw.

Famous Long Table Soup
After the clients tasted the wines it was time to indulge in one of Chef Corli’s famous Roasted Roma Tomato Soup, to warm the spirits and socialise with fellow tasters.

Thank you to everyone that joined us for this fun filled day!

More photos of the Domebya Open Day posted on Facebook


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