LIQUID INVESTMENTS
MICHAEL FRIDJHON: Sumptuous fare for millionaires at springtime auctions
It would take a very distant relationship with the truth to describe the wines on offer at either sale as vinous bargains
Lord Tennyson held that in spring "a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love". In SA, however, spring is auction season. On September 7 and 8 Nederburg hosts the opening salvo; three weeks later the Cape Winemakers’ Guild wraps up proceedings. It would take a very distant relationship with the truth to describe the wines on offer at either sale as vinous bargains. Prices — even in these dark times — will average between R600 and R1,000 a bottle. While Nederburg combines an ever-smaller array of older wines with younger, current releases, the Cape Winemakers’ Guild’s focus is pretty much freshly bottled stock. The auctions operate with a similar culling system to ensure a rigorous quality standard. Nederburg employs the services of independent experts (of which I was one, with several brought in from abroad) to sift their submissions in a blind tasting; the guild’s members perform a similar function — also tasting blind. While neither process is methodologically perfect, ...
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