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MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Future of Cape wines looks steady as oak
The unexpected triumphs from the periphery indicate what the future of Cape wine might look like in the next decade
One benefit of my regular judging gigs is that I’m exposed to a snapshot view of what is happening in a particular wine universe. Once a year I represent SA at the Six Nations Challenge. When the competition launched in Sydney about 15 years ago (as the Tri-Nations Challenge) I was also a regular judge at the Australian Capital Shows — so I was relatively familiar with what was happening in Australia. Through the challenge I obtained an early insight into the coming-of-age of the Kiwi wine industry. In the 1980s New Zealand was an insignificant player on the world stage, with a national production smaller than the Vredendal co-op in the Northern Cape. That was before Marlborough sauvignon blanc became the palate cleanser of choice for Brit yuppies and long before Central Otago came to rival Burgundy as the go-to region for pinotphiles. Nowadays the Kiwis dominate the premium end of the Antipodean industry: a far cry from the days when southeastern Australian shiraz reigned supreme. ...
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