The Blaauwklippen Blending Battle is on!
· 2 min read
Are you an aspirational wine blending champion? The time has come for wine clubs to once again battle it out in the 36th annual Blaauwklippen Blending Competition.
The winning blend will be sold under the BBC label in a Magnum (1.5 litre) bottle, and the winning team will be recognised on the wine bottle label - a great honour! All the blends of the individual wine clubs/societies will compete against each other, and the top four scores of all entries will determine the semi-finalists. The four semi-finalists will then be invited to Blaauwklippen, where the winner will be announced at an award ceremony attended by selected guests and media.
On that note, we would once again like to congratulate Hartbeespoort Vèlo et Vin on winning the celebratory 2018 Blending Competition.
Important Dates: Registration opens: 01 Apr 2019 Registration & registration fee is due by: 30 Apr 2019 Hampers sent to you / ready for collection in the week of: 16 May 2019 Recipes to reach Blaauwklippen by latest: 30 Jun 2019 Semi-final & Final tastings at Blaauwklippen: 25 Jul 2019 Award ceremony announcing the winner at Blaauwklippen: 13 Sep 2019
Blend brief: For this year’s competition, the challenge is to blend an accessible wine with layers of fruit on the nose and pallet. Blenders will receive 4 base wines and all 4 must be used in the final blend. For your blending purposes, we will be sending you a hamper containing a 750ml bottle of each of these 4 wines, along with a plastic measuring cylinder and the recipe rules. Recipes need to be returned to us (via our website!) by latest Sunday 30 June 2019.
Base wines to be used: Zinfandel 2018 | Merlot 2018 | Shiraz 2018 | Petit Verdot 2018 | No more than 50% of each component and a minimum of 5% of each component needs to be used. Please note that each club may only enter/register ONCE. You may however order more than one hamper per club to ensure your best blend.
Do not hesitate to contact Nanette de Hart should you have any queries: [email protected] or call on 021 880 0133.
More from
People, community and tourism
The Portrait of a South African Winemaker
In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus resolves to express himself "as freely as I can and as wholly as I can". Joyce's hero refuses to be just one thing. That same many-sided energy is increasingly being asked of the modern South African winemaker, who has to adopt different faces for different places.
Who will drink South African wine tomorrow?
Tomorrow’s wine drinker is already here, standing at the braai with a can in one hand and a phone in the other. South African wine still has time to join the occasion, although it may need to loosen its collar first.
Ice in the Chenin and other South African wine crimes
There is ice in the Chenin Blanc, Cap Classique in an ordinary wine glass and a bowl of curry waiting beside a bottle of something pink. By old wine standards, the afternoon is a small crime scene.