Absa Top 10 Pinotage competition 2012 winners
By Christian Eedes, 31 August 2012
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7
Wine of the day.
The official list of winners of the 16th annual Absa Top 10 competition is as follows:
Altydgedacht 2011
Diemersdal 2011
Durbanville Hills Rhinofields 2011
Painted Wolf Guillermo 2009
Rijks Private Cellar 2008
Simonsig Redhill 2010
Spier 21 Gables 2010
Swartland Bush Vines 2010
Wellington Wines La Cave 2010
Windmeul Reserve 2011
Guests attending today’s awards function were able to taste the 20 finalists of the winners before the announcement of the winners and my general impression was that here was a bunch of perfectly appealing but pretty straightforward wines, the panel often preferring the ripe, rich and broad wines, at least as far as I could see.
I would like to have seen a few more wines with structure and freshness rewarded and my top 10 (including ranking) was as follows:
17/20
1. Simonsig Redhill 2010
16.5/20
2. Rijks Private Cellar 2008: 16.5/20
16/20
3.= KWV Cathedral Cellar 2009
3.= Rijks Reserve 2008
3.= Springfontein Jonathan’s Ridge 2009
3.= Tukulu 2009
15.5/20
7.= Diemersdal 2011
7.= Beaumont 2010
7.= Fairview 2011
7.= Wellington Wines La Cave 2010
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Lizé Oosthuizen | 18 September 2012
I agree, Beaumont should definitely have featured in the top 10!
Smirrie | 4 September 2012
Well the one thing that is for sure is that our pinotage is only getting better and better.
Kwispedoor | 3 September 2012
Yep, I guess one can make a compelling list from the absentees. Like Christian said: such is the nature of the (panel tasting) beast.
Stephen Flesch | 3 September 2012
Also not mentioned are Grangehurst and Vriesenhof.
Smirrie | 3 September 2012
More absent winefarms are the likes of longridge, welbedacht and fairview primo. Well they cant fit them all
Rihann Koekemoer | 1 September 2012
Was Kanonkop not considered in this competition?
Christian | 2 September 2012
Hi Rihann, There were a total of 132 entries but no indication of which wines fell outside the last 20. I imagine Kanonkop would’ve entered and simply did not find favour with the judges. Other big names absent from the final 20 include Beyerskloof Diesel and Kaapzicht Steytler. To some extent, there absence is simply due to the nature of panel tastings…