Warwick reveals 'The Blue Lady' Cabernet Sauvignon NV

World Cup promotion in the Cayman Islands

Warwick and Budweiser being served at Soccer City in Johannesburg

 

The special wines for the Nelson Mandela Dinner pictured leaving Warwick

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

This is the ultimate FIFA World Cup fan picture - go Vuvuzela

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Warwick is entering the Great Wine Capitals Wine Tourism Awards - here is our entry video

A magnificent day in Stellenbosch Wine country

Warwick Harvest Report 2010

The 2010 vintage was one of the most labour intensive and logistically demanding in a long time. We experienced spring rains ,severe southeast winds ,100 mm of rain in November and a 10 day summer heat wave at the end of January .

The season was not excessively hot except for the heat wave and there was very little rain that influenced winemaking. We had about 20 mm in February and 7 mm of rain in March.

The enormous variation in budding , flowering and ripening times necessitated far more time in the vineyards than usual but we were able to handle this extra curveball .

Optimal ripeness and sugar levels were difficult to manage as the early ripening varietals was slow to ripen and the late ripening varietals ripened quicker than normal. This vintage truly tested our skills and experience.

Close monitoring of weather conditions and ripening patterns allowed us to act swiftly in terms of vineyard management and harvesting at optimal ripeness. Through careful planning during the harvesting period itself we ensured grapes could be harvested in time by extending picking hours and utilizing weekends.

Although our crops were down by 20%, we are pleased with the overall wine quality. Our harvest started a week later than in 2009 and lasted only 35 days when we finished with Block 6 , Cabernet sauvignon. Essentially about 3 weeks were shaved off from the regular harvesting period putting increased pressure on our cellar crushing capacity and fermentation space. In this regard the lighter crop was a blessing.

The grapes held their acids and came into the winery with very low pHs. This is always a great measurement of your vines health and in-balance viticulture practices. We saw the younger blocks of Pinotage and Cabernet franc producing high levels of Fructose and Mallic acid. This is not ideal, and is definitely the two blocks that suffered the most through this difficult vintage.

The Sauvignon Blanc is showing amazing potential, and with the extended lees contact we are allowing the wine, it is improving by the day. We are certain the 2010 vintage of Professor Black will be one of the best.

The Chardonnay is showing very well, although it is still very early to predict what 9 months in the barrel will do, we are confident the quality is a step up from the last two years.

All the reds have intense color and great complex tannin extractions. This is normally a good indicator for quality.

In general, we believe Warwick pulled together well and managed to have outstanding wines in the winery, despite the difficulties we faced during harvest 2010.

The Twankey Seafood, Champagne, Guinness and Oyster Bar

When the Board of Executors decided to erect a statue to reflect their benevolence they chose the corner of Adderley and Wale Streets, knowing it was an exceptional location.Today the restored statue still dominates the busy corner, looking up Government Avenue. She’s also given her name, or at least the moniker that Capetonians cheekily bestowed on her nearly 100 years ago, to the champagne and seafood bar below her.

 

The Twankey celebrates this historic irreverence. A relaxed, sophisticated meeting place, it serves hot and cold seafood in tapas portions from an open kitchen. The food is fresh, light and healthy. The wine list includes an interesting selection of Cape wines and signature cocktails and at the bar there’s draught Guinness on tap. The Twankey also incorporates a coffee bar and will regularly feature live evening entertainment.

To celebrate the lifelong partnership between oysters and Sauvignon Blanc, the Twankey is delighted to offer subscribers of the Warwick Newsletter, 6 complimentary oysters with every bottle of Professor Black Sauvignon Blanc. To enjoy this offer, simply join us at the Twankey at the Taj Cape Town on the corner of wale and Adderley Street, any time in June and July, and inform your waiter that Professor Black has sent you!

This offer is valid for all subscribers of the Warwick newsletter and is valid for June and July 2010. For further details, please visit www.tajhotels.com/capetown or have a conversation with us on our blog at http://www.tajcapetown.co.za/  

Warwick Wine Estate comes to Koko's in Margate KZN - 3rd June

Enjoy a heartwarming delicious meal with your favourite glass of Warwick wine this winter. Gourmet Picnics also available on request.
Bistro Opening Times: 12:00 – 15:00 Every day.
For bookings, please call: 021 884 3144 or email visit@warwickwine.com

Has South African wine finally arrived in the USA?

It would be fair to say that South African wine has made some reasonable progress in the United States despite Wines of South Africa.

The incredibly restricted USA budget allocation previously deemed appropriate by the misaligned board of Directors of Wines of South Africa has been wholly inadequate and it is due to the frugal cost of access to Rory Callahan and his New York based team that we have been able to maintain at least a semblance of a generic presence. 

 

As the Directors of WOSA are chosen on the base of volume (instead of value), it would come as a surprise to many readers of this column that America would not have been given a greater focus from the 'powers that be'. With the South African 'big boys' chasing shareholder satisfaction by saturating the commodity-driven UK, Dutch and Scandinavian markets with volume, it would be a further surprise that more emphasis had not been given to the USA, the biggest wine market in the world. It is refreshing that a little recent shareholder activism from the currently disadvantaged and under-represented 'quality' driven smaller wine producers finally convinced the powerful apparatchik to rethink the concept of ignoring the USA and finally agree to dip their toes into the US water. It would appear that the collective South African generic initiative has taken a fairly significant step forward.

 

Nobody really knew what to expect when the small scattered army of South African winery exhibitors started streaming into the ground floor lobby of Tribeca Rooftops, the rehabilitated industrial venue chosen as the venue for 'The Great South African Wine Show' in New York City. It is clear that WOSA has really stepped up to the plate and the venue, the layout, the decoration and the atmosphere shouted positivity and would not have ever been confused for another country's generic presence. South African wine was standing proud and it was easy to feel patriotic and proud as a remarkable number of producers invested heavily in creating a presence for themselves here. A question mark of attendance hang heavily in the air and a collective sigh of relief could have been felt as the notoriously fickle US trade started streaming into the venue. 

 

I have not seen official attendance, but I can say that the event was buzzing, a large sub-section of NYC (and from further afield) trade and media thronged the corridors and made the first part of the event a big success. The trade seminars hosted by Andre Shearer, Robin Back and Su Birch were also positively received and were straining to contain the enthusiastic attendees. The consumer seminar in the evening hosted by Zelma Long was also described as remarkable and amazing and played right into the American consumers desire for a little showbiz. The timing of the event could not have been better, just prior to the summer season and, perhaps more importantly, almost exactly a month before the kick-off of the Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

 

The consumer event in the evening was even more eagerly attended and the event felt more like a gigantic wine party than a sophisticated wine event, but underneath the buzz was a large contingent of excited consumers making every effort to learn as much as possible about the wonders of this exciting new wine producing countries. This is how to market wine in America - give them wine education 101 and camouflage it as entertainment. I don't think that we could have wished for a better buzz and it is exciting to see our generic marketing muscle showing it's versatility by flexing in a new market.

 

"There is a remarkable outcome when you withdraw marketing - nothing happens". Well the converse is true of marketing wine into the USA and it can be said that South Africa has taken the first step on what could become an exciting journey. This is the first step on a completely new journey of discovery in the USA, we are not perpetuating the past and the outcomes have the potential to catapult South African wine even further towards our global aspirations. We should applaud the South African wine industry for embracing and funding this challenge, cudo's to the WOSA board for allocating funds and specifically well done to the entire WOSA team for a job well done. 

 

Now the challenge really starts as we attempt, in our own way to maintain and build momentum. If we do not follow up on this event it will be a travesty, an inexcusable waste of the energy that has been injected in New York and it should be incumbent on the producer shareholders of WOSA to ensure that funds continue to flow into the US market. We have taken a big step, but the next one might even be more challenging. Bravo South Africa. 

 

The Author will be cheering for the US team at the World Cup if Bafana Bafana fail to reach the final.

Follow me on Twitter @mikeratcliffe

Today is the Big Day of the www.thegreatsouthafricanwineshow.com in New York

The iPad is an excellent tool for winetastings

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Re: Got my iPad ....

Dang!!...........I'm jealous u toss!

Sent from my iPhone

On 07 May 2010, at 22:37, "Mike Ratcliffe" <mike@warwickwine.com> wrote:

>
>
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> Mike Ratcliffe
> Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
> P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa
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> FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe
> <IMG00297-20100507-2235.jpg>

Got my iPad ....

Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Posted on Apr, 22. 2010 by Kevin Sidders

On Monday I and a handful of other Guild board members spent the afternoon at Country Vintner’s annual grand trade tasting. They had approximately 50 suppliers in the room pouring their current releases, as well as a special table periodically offering back vintage gems. They had a number of high quality producers, in addition a broad range of wines from across the price spectrum.

I spent most of my time tasting the high end California stuff, from producers such as Forman, Capiaux, O’Shaughnessey, L’Angevin, Brewer-Clifton and Melville, and have some strong recommendations from among those expensive providers (if anyone is interested, please email me for details). Beyond that I was able to taste a variety of other wine at various price points, and between myself and Rives we ought to have a handful of offers to share in the week(s) ahead.

Today, however, we are offering my favorite wine from the entire tasting in terms of quality for price. This wine comes from importer Bartholomew Broadbent — you may recognize the family name, as his father is one of the most well-known authors in the wine industry, as well as the world’s leading authority on aged Bordeaux and the person who built the Christie’s Wine Auction business over 30+ years.

Bartholomew followed in his father’s footsteps and has spent his entire life in the wine trade in various capacities. For the last dozen or more years he has built an importing company featuring a variety of interesting and outstanding wine brands from around the world. A couple of years ago he relocated from San Francisco to Richmond to be nearer to family, and as such he can often be found around the area tasting at various shops, etc (perhaps we’ll even get him to the Guild at some point).

In any event, his table had a lineup of about 8 selections from a few different producers from Portugal, New Zealand and South Africa. While there were strong showings throughout, I was blown away by the 2005 Warwick Estates Three Cape Ladies. Warwick is a sizable producer in the South African market, with a broad range of wines that have a reputation for quality and value at all price points. The Three Cape Ladies is typically a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Pinotage, with the varietal mix among the 3 grapes changing from year to year in response to the growing season, quality of fruit, etc. In 2005, however, a splash of Merlot was added to the mix (though they didn’t change the brand and add a fourth lady). Whatever the case, this wine just exploded out of the glass with a nose of dark fruit and spice, and offered a generous, complex, well-balanced palate of blackberry jam, spice and a touch of oak. Being a 2005, I think the bottle age has definitely helped bring the wine together into a seamless package, and it’s showing

While I was raving about the wine to anyone near me, Bartholomew mentioned that it had just been reviewed by our friends at Wine Spectator:

Wine Spectator

Score: 91

Dense but supple, with very suave, fine-grained structure holding together the black currant, fig and blackberry notes, while black tea, tobacco and iron notes fill in on the long finish. Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Syrah and Merlot. Drink now through 2011. 8,000 cases made. –JM

Now, having tasted this wine in the past, I thought I had recalled a retail price point in the low-$30s and deemed this vintage a solid value in that regard. When I inquired about distributor pricing, imagine my surprise when they quoted a price in the mid-teens! And beyond that, Country Vintner was running a spiff that provided even further discounts for purchases made at the show. Now, it’s not our model to go long a bunch of wine and try to sell it, but in situations where we can act quickly and score great deals we’ve been known to bend our rules on occasion and with Will’s approval we jumped at this one. Here are the fabulous details:

2005 Warwick Estate Three Cape Ladies

Retail price before member discount $28.00 • Buy this wine! Now, we only have a fixed quantity at this price, so if you’re interested act quickly. Once we sell through that we’ll let everyone know, as the price will go up a couple of bucks for orders made after that (but where the wine is still an incredible value, mind you).

Warwick & Vilafonte fundraising reception to support the United States South Africa Wine Foundation

On May 13th Destination Cellars will host a fundraising reception to support the United States South Africa Wine Foundation, featuring Warwick and Vilafonté wines from Stellenbosch, South Africa. The Foundation aids the post-apartheid transformation of the South African wine industry by developing the skills of the disadvantaged South African wine workforce through internships within the U.S. wine industry. A US-based non-profit, the Foundation fosters diversity in the South African wine sector by exposing workers to the U.S. wine industry with the hope that they will advance in their careers or eventually establish wineries of their own. The event will take place at the Washington DC offices Nixon Peabody, LLC.

About Destination Cellars
Founded in 2006, Destination Cellars is the first and only luxury destination club that offers affluent wine, food and travel enthusiasts personalized access to prestigious winery properties around the world. Individual and corporate club members enjoy exclusive, tailored experiences at more than 100 of the world's finest wineries spanning seven countries. Destination Cellars creates private "once in a lifetime" experiences, to ensure it opens the world of wine to those who desire an extraordinary and memorable journey.

For more information on the event, visit http://www.destinationcellars.com or contact us at 703-327-3109.



Mike Ratcliffe
Warwick Estate & Vilafonte
P.O.Box 2 Elsenburg, 7607, South Africa

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/mikeratcliffe

Perfect paradise ... view from the penthouse at Warwick

 

The Great South African Wine Show in NYC May 11th - an invitation