Official opening of the Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons tasting centre
By Christian Eedes, 25 February 2015
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Last night a lesson in how to position wine as a luxury lifestyle product by Rupert & Rothschild Vignerons.
The occasion was the official opening of the immaculately appointed new tasting centre – R&R’s Baronness Nadine Chardonnay 2010 and Classique 2009 from magnum joined by the other international wines in the Baron Edmund de Rothschild portfolio, excellent catering and short but sincere speeches.
Schalk-Willem Joubert, originally winemaker and now CEO, has been there since the cellar was established in 1997 and he thanked Johann Rupert for his “guidance and patience” over that time. Rupert meanwhile acknowledged his late brother Anthonij, who was the main figure in the Rupert family in starting the venture, saying “We are witnessing the fruition of Anthonij’s dream.”
Production of red blend Classique is purportedly now up to a millon bottles a year, the current release 2012 selling for R129 a bottle from the cellar. It’s always been safe to the point of dreary but tell that to the R&R accountants.
Wine Tasting and Sales
Monday to Friday : 10h00 to 16h30
Saturday: 10h00 to 16h00
Tel 021 874 1648
schalk Joubert | 25 February 2015
“safe to the point of dreary” you just dont get it do you!
Regards,
Schalk
Christian Eedes | 25 February 2015
Hi Schalk, I think I do get “it”. First of all, South Africa needs premium wine that sells in meaningful volumes and congratulations to R&R for achieving this with Classique. Besides you guys, there’s Chocolate Block and not much else. Part of the reason why there aren’t more is surely that as volume increases, quality suffers but I suspect that even more of an issue is that in making a wine accessible to the broadest possible target market, individuality is compromised and that’s nobody’s fault but rather just the way the world works… I should add that I’m a long-time fan of your Baron Edmund (one of the more elegant Bdx-style red blends around) but then that’s rather more expensive than Classique and I’m sure volumes are quite a bit smaller.