The year was 1872. The scourge-prone Portuguese island of Madeira was hit by yet another disaster: Phylloxera, sucking the sap out of commercial grapevines and decimating the acreage to a thousand acres within less than ten years.
While others bemoaned the significantly lower production, wine-maker Joao Martins da Silva, in the prime vineyards of Camara de Lobos, stoically shrugged off his viticultural limitations to produce a rich, sweet wine from the Malvasia Candida grape: the Malmsey 1879 – a wine that was destined for a circuitious journey to South Africa almost a century later.
His creation was Canteiro-aged in 105-gallon wooden barrels for more than 60 years, bottled in 1943, since then developing enormous concentration and complexity, and sold to wine importer, Madeira expert and former Nederburg auctioneer Patrick Grubb. But this wine’s journey didn’t end there.
Having being produced in the face of adversity in a series of events with uncanny parallels to the origin of Nederburg Edelkeur, the raison d’etre for the Nederburg Auction, it is perhaps not unusual that this wine eventually made its way to the Auction.
Fine wine auctioneer Anthony Barne acquired a bottle from Grubb last year. It was now finally ready for the next leg of its journey. This was to the 2014 Nederburg Charity Auction, where its lineage will be helping others overcome hardship.
Barne is offering this distinguished wine to guests of the Nederburg Auction alongside 12 other special items on Saturday 13th September to raise funds for local community-focused organisations.
It is perhaps fitting that the proceeds raised from the sale of the Malmsey 1879 – which offers an intense, complex story filled with heritage and value – should go towards investing in the futures of the people who make up the backbone of South Africa’s wine industry.
An equally rare, exceptional wine that will come under the charity auctioneer’s hammer is the Oremus Tokaji Eszencia 2000, a wine that will easily maintain its quality and drinkability for 200 years or more. Donated by Swedish wine importer Janåke Johansson, just a few hundred bottles of the 2000 vintage were produced, reinforcing its status as a unique collector’s item.
Several exceptional South African wines have been offered for the Charity Auction line-up. Head of wine buying at Ultra Liquors Mark Norrish says of the Zonnebloem 5-litre 1979 Pinotage he donated that he was a big fan of the estate in the eighties, and clearly, the buying public was as well. The brand sold exceptionally well through their outlets at the time, with the result that Wynberg store manager Chris Minikin received the donated bottle from the company’s Stellenbosch Farmers Winery (SFW) representative as a token of thanks.
Just one bottle of the Groot Constantia Heerenrood 1975 is on offer from the Distell Tabernakel wine library. It was first made as the flagship of Groot Constantia by a young Neil Ellis, and discontinued by the late Pieter du Toit after the 1989 vintage. In a recent tasting, the 1975 Groot Constantia Heerenrood still showed a lot a youth, belying its nearly 40 years of age. The wine showed a vibrant colour and fine tannins with truffles and forest floor aromas on the nose, a good testimony that South African red wines can age beautifully.
Nederburg cellarmaster Razvan Macici has chosen wines as old as the Nederburg Auction itself for the Charity Auction. Twelve bottles of the 1975 Nederburg Cabernet Sauvignon, made and signed by his legendary predecessor, Gűnter Brȍzel, who turned 80 in April, are a fine example of longevity: of the Auction, that celebrates its 40th anniversary; of Brȍzel, who remains a mentor and source of inspiration to the Nederburg winemaking team; and of the wines made in the Nederburg cellars. A rare collector’s item for its archival value alone, these wines will be a thrilling experience for the buyer who wants to imbibe history.
First-time beneficiaries The Breytenbach Centre in Wellington and the Hope Through Action project in Paarl will benefit from the proceeds raised on Saturday, 13 September, at the close of the main auction.
All the items to be sold through the Nederburg Charity Auction are published on the auction website: www.nederburgauction.co.za
