Rare vintages on auction

ONCE IN A LIFETIME: SOME OF THESE WINES WERE NEVER ON MARKET

Most of collection ranks in Top Wine SA’s 100 best in last 10 years.

More than 2 000 bottles of South Africa’s finest wines – many of the vintages never found on the open market – will be sold in an online auction which started yesterday.

High Street Auctions Cape Town director Stef Olivier says an appraisal has set the value of this collection at close to R2 million.

“Dozens of vintages in this four-day auction were produced in very small quantities and made available only to a handful of collectors as investment wines.

“The majority of the collection also ranks in the Top Wine SA’s 100 most highly rated South African wines over the past 10 years – 2012 to 2021 – as reviewed by judging panels around the world.”

The wine on auction has been stored in one of Cape Town’s most celebrated cellars for several years.

“Prominent in the collection is a selection of Kanonkop investment wines comprising more than 500 bottles.

“Numerous Kanonkop cultivars and vintages from as early as 2011 will be sold, including Black Label pinotage and cabernet sauvignon, as well as Paul Sauer, which has topped the list of most ‘investment-worthy’ SA wines produced over the past 20 years.

“Other award-winning estates in the collection include Vilafonte, MR Raats, Hartenberg, Mischa, Haskel, Rust en Vrede, Meerlust and Spier.”

Collectors are likely to show most interest in the 2012 Book 17 from De Toren that can reach in excess of R3 000 per bottle. Nine bottles are available, being auctioned in individual lots.

Award-winning Italian chef and restaurateur Giorgio Nava, whose Vintage Collection list at his restaurant Carne in Cape Town is internationally renowned, says restaurateurs with fine dining establishments should be registering for this auction.

“It is only from this sort of private collector sale that sommeliers will find some of these vintages.

“They’re not even available at the estates of origin anymore.

“I could perhaps have bought a Vilafonte 2013 in 2015, but now the only way it’ll appear in my Vintage Collection is if I purchase from private collections.

“For the hospitality industry, an auction like this is critical to ensuring customers have the best experience through pairing top wines with exquisite food.

“And with some select vintages, this might well be the last ever opportunity to buy a case of a specific wine. It’s a sale not to be missed.”