Michael Fridjhon: The Trophy Wine Show – born of its time, built by many

The twenty fifth anniversary of the Trophy Wine Show provides an opportunity to marvel at the distance our winemakers have traversed in the blink of an eye: a quarter of a century is both an instant, and also a meaningful chunk of time. It’s what separates the start of the First World War from the opening salvos of the Second, a brief moment, yet jam-packed with more mayhem and greater innovation than any comparable era of human history. Within this brief span there was the Great War, the Russian Revolution, the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the creation of innumerable new countries (and the obliteration of many others), the re-drawn map of the Middle East along lines which bequeathed upon us the conflicts of today, the rise of Japan as a world power, the Great Depression, the publication of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, the invention of television, jet engines, rockets, antibiotics. The list is endless.

If you focus on any field of endeavour – think of computer technology – there are always periods of greater and less intense creativity and change. In the past fifty the Cape Wine Industry has experienced tumultuous transformation, the result of several factors – political, economic and human – all coinciding. Our wine of origin legislation, promulgated in 1973, created a vital legislative framework, which, within a few years, led to a massive sales boom. The number of wineries increased – from around 200 (including some 70 co-ops) to over 500 today. As the demand for fine wine grew, the co-op system imploded – opening a gap for individual winemakers to create sustainable brands by sourcing their fruit from growers who had previously been contracted to cooperatives.

The growing interest in wine paved the way for the country’s first consumer-based wine publication: the late Harold Eedes, then a director of the firm Ramsay Son & Parker, whose titles included Car and Getaway, launched Wine Magazine in 1993. Amongst its regular features were annual varietal tastings and ratings. It’s worth noting that it took until March 1996 before Chenin Blanc made this list: the variety wasn’t considered worthy of the focus even though it was by far the country’s most planted.

At the time I was obsessed with persuading the industry to recognise its potential, so I approached Eedes with a suggestion for Wine Magazine to host a Chenin Symposium to convey this message, and to follow it up with an annual Chenin Blanc Challenge. Within five years, the Challenge had become a real feature, a symbol of the transformation of the modern South African wine industry.

When I came to Eedes in late 2001 with a proposal to create a new wine competition whose aesthetic criteria would better reflect the expectations of the international markets, he was equally keen to help drive this process forward. South Africa’s abject defeat by Australia in the SAA Shield “test match” exposed just how far we had fallen behind our competitors during the years of isolation. The established competitions were never going to change this, partly because they were echo chambers of an outdated isolationist vision, partly because the panels were unwieldy and discussion between judges was expressly prohibited.

The Trophy Wine Show was born out of this collaboration with Wine Magazine. We soon discovered that if we wanted skilled and competent judges, we needed to establish a judging academy. For the first few years the courses were led by overseas specialists who brought focus and great rigour to how wines should be assessed.

I obviously cannot be impartial when it comes to determining the value the Trophy Wine Show has brought to our wine industry. The fact that Investec has again renewed its sponsorship suggests that it is seen in South Africa as a credible arbiter of wine quality. Likewise the volume of wine sales through Port2Port after the announcement of the results appears a vindication of the judging methodology. But these are very indirect ways of measuring whether it has succeeded in what it set out to achieve.

There is a wider question around whether the competition has contributed to the change in wine quality and the perception of South Africa’s vinous standing, or whether it simply reflects it. Here context is important: the excitement around Cape wine after the 1994 elections was wearing off by the turn of the millennium. Overseas commentators spoke of us as a source of “good value wine.” When the show launched in May 2002 there was very little to suggest that in a few decades we would be considered “the most exciting wine industry in the world.”

I like to believe that the Trophy Wine Show played a small part in this: it was the right vehicle in the right place at the right time. Change was in the air, which made it easier to find critics willing to accept invitations to come and discover for themselves what was being produced. To look back at the judges who have travelled here (some more than once) is to encounter a Who’s Who of the best, the most knowledgeable and the most influential voices in the world of wine: Gerard Basset, Jancis Robinson, Oz Clarke, Steven Spurrier, Michel Bettane, Neal Martin, (for Robert Parker), Lisa Perotti Brown, Andrew Jefford, Tim Atkin, James Halliday, Brian Croser. The impressions they brought back to the key export markets must surely have helped to raise the profile of Cape wine.

You don’t always have to reach the peak to look back with satisfaction at how far you have ascended the slopes. What we do know is that we have come from being a vinous backwater to a key player on the world stage.

• Michael Fridjhon has been the convenor and show chairman of the Investec Trophy Wine Show since its inception.