LOCK, STOCK AND WINE BARREL
We so often forget about sweet wines in South Africa, which is ironic because as a nation we do gravitate toward sweeter tasting wines. DemiSec’s are often preferred over Brut in the world of MCC.
As the wine industry is always establishing itself as one of the world’s best – sweet wines are really climbing the ranks – and Nederburg seems to know how to ace the competition.
Nederburg achieved a trove of awards for its noble late harvest wines on local and international competition in 2019. It all started with Günter Brözel, cellar-master at Nederburg for 33 years.
He, being familiar with sweet wines from his days of living in Germany, took Paarl by storm.
As the story goes, the local authorities did not believe it possible to produce a natural wine with such a high sugar level, so to ensure that Nederburg did not add additional sugar to the wine, an inspector was sent to sleep in the cellar during the fermentation period. Nimble negotiations with the authorities saw a compromise that would permit Edelkeur, a legendary Late Harvest, to go on sale but solely on auction to invited licensees and so the idea for the Nederburg Auction was born.
Fast forward to today and it’s worth taking notice of other Nederburg sweet wines. Here’s the four best ones.
The Winemasters Noble Late Harvest 2018
Private Bin Eminence Muscadel Noble Late Harvest 2009
Private Bin Eminence Muscadel Noble Late Harvest 2018
Private Bin Edelkeur Chenin Blanc Noble Late Harvest 2009.