Rare SA wines sell for R7.5m
IF YOU were fortunate enough to be blessed with deep pockets, what would you pay for a 40-year-old bottle of good red?
Well, eat your heart out as this wine was snapped up by an overseas buyer seconds after it went up for auction at the Nederburg Rare South African Wine Auction in the Cape at the weekend.
Without batting an eyelid, the unnamed buyer bagged the 750ml bottle of 1976 Zonnebloem Shiraz for an eye-popping R7 000 – to rousing applause from the more than 400 wine enthusiasts.
In the end, the businessman grabbed – not one – but three bottles of the rare 1976 Zonnebloem Shiraz, splurging R21 000 on the vintage wine.
The wine is described as complex, composed with a long finish; filled “with sweet spices, caramelised fruit and burnt orange with soft savoury flavours and wood smoke”.
In the white wine category, the De Wetshof Chardonnay Finesse 1993 vintage fetched a record price of R2 000 a 750ml bottle.
The total figure of rare wines sold last Friday and Saturday totalled more than R7.5-milion, 23% over last year’s tally.
De Wetshof estate is regarded as the home of SA chardonnay. The auction, which has been running for 42 years, distinguishes itself as a paradise of rare and old wines – some aged up to more than 70 years.
This year’s proceeds went to show how SA wines have caught the attention of international wine collectors, who came as far as Asia, Europe and East Africa.
It all comes down to patience as wine consistently appreciates in value over time, provided it is stored the right way.
For those without a cellar, at least two entities – Vinoteque and Wine Cellar – provide what is called the wine bank, where a wine collector can store their wines at a nominal fee.
Keynote speaker and British Master of Wine Tim Atkin said the 2015 vintage was part of the reason he was buoyant about the quality of SA wines following improvements in the vineyards and cellars of the Cape over the last 26 years. “There has never been so much great South African wine available.”
Meanwhile, the award-winning De Krans estate, famous for its delicious ports, has released a new wine – De Krans Moscato Perlé 2016 (R49), which is a lightly sparkling wine made from the perfumey muscat grape.