Written by: Russell Cook – Winemakers’ Choice Sales

17 May 2010

Winemakers’ Choice Award 2010:

Same Trusted Recipe – New Tasty Spin

Baking and Cooking. Let’s consider... When baking, there is a specific recipe that must be followed – with precision, ingredients must be weighed and instructions followed in an obsessive compulsive fashion. When cooking, however, there is a guideline to be followed – improvisation, differentiations, and the liberty to totally depart from instructions are encouraged to create a personal rendition.

I by nature am a cook, yes, pun intended. I love the fact that I can, with absolute abandon, add whatever I feel like to the meal that I am inventing. For example, adding some Zorgvliet Tannat to my simmering bolognaise, whilst enjoying it from my goblet. Just like W. C. Fields when he aptly said: “I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food.” I must mention, though, how sincerely I do appreciate the science of baking.

Even though I would unashamedly be a forerunner for cooking, I am not building a case to prove that cooking is superior to or more enjoyable than baking. Your allegiance may lie with the latter, bless your soul. I am illustrating that each of them are unique and diverse. In fact, they complement one another and define one another, I believe.

What does this have to do with Winemakers’ Choice and wine in general anyway? Despite the pure wonder of the relationship that food and wine is; I am relating the approach that Winemakers’ Choice is adopting in 2010 to the “cooking and baking” analogy. This year Winemakers’ Choice is following the same trusted “baking” recipe with a new tasty “cooking” spin.

Let’s start with the baking – The same trusted recipe:

·         Panels of judges of winemakers. Winemakers only; the Human Rights Commission hasn’t challenged us on the grounds of equality yet.

·         Judged blind from the first round – Not “blind drunk”. Blind as in, except for being aware of the category, the wines are all unknown to the panel.

·         One award – the Diamond Award. “You can have any colour you want as long as it’s black”, Henry Ford. It’s a Diamond Award or nothing. No grey areas. No consolation prizes. If the winemakers don’t find a Diamond Merlot, for example, then there won’t be an award in the Merlot category.

Now for the cooking – The new tasty spin:

·         Prize money. Now that is just great incentive! The best way of honouring the winemakers themselves – they put “blood, sweat and tears” into producing a trophy wine.                                 

§  R 25 000 cash prize to the winemaker of the Trophy Red

§  R 25 000 cash prize to the winemaker of the Trophy White

And

§  Wine tracking system from WineWare to the Best Producer valued at

R 40 000 – The Producer with the most Diamond Awards

§  R 25 000 cash prize from SurePure to the highest achieving Low Sulphur Wine on show.

         Awards Ceremony. More on this later.

With appetites aroused, senses craving fine wine and minds’ ear hearing Diamonds are forever, please freely follow the link to www.winemakerschoice.co.za now as entries for 2010 are open.