Bosman Family Vineyards, walked away with the top honours at this year’s inaugural Perold ABSA Cape Blend competition.
Absa and the Pinotage Association announced the Absa Perold Cape Blend Competition, aimed at creating a signature style for the composition of true Cape Blends.

Key to the competition is the requirement that the blended wine should contain a minimum of 30% and maximum of 70% Pinotage. Pinotage, as a uniquely South Africa cultivar represents the African spirit in the depth of flavour and range of aromas and is the ideal basis on which the competition is built.

Says Beyers Truter, chairperson of the Pinotage Association: “The Cape Blend competition is long overdue. There has been much debate about what really constitutes a Cape Blend. Today we set the benchmark by specifying that Pinotage has to form part of the blend, but we also include minimum and maximum percentages.”

KWV, where Prof Abraham Perold was the chief oenologist when he created Pinotage, and who is the owner of the Abraham Perold brand, granted the Pinotage Association permission to use the name, solely for use for the Cape Blend Competition.

Blended wines generally appeal to a wider consumer group as the highest rated blends use the best qualities of the different cultivars to create wines for connoisseurs and wine lovers alike.

“Absa first started sponsoring the Absa Top 10 Pinotage competition to raise the profile of Pinotage and to assist winemakers in improving the quality of their wines year-on-year. With the Absa Perold Cape Blend Competition, our aim is to assist the wine industry to set a standard in what constitutes a Cape Blend,” says Ernst Janovsky, General Manager of Absa AgriBusiness.

Bosman ‘Erfenis’ 2010 was the only Fairtrade wine on the coveted Perold ABSA Top Cape Blend List. Bosman Family Wines ‘Sur Lie’ Chenin Blanc was also nominated as the best Fairtrade White Wine earlier this year at the Michelangelo International Wine Awards.

We know that Corleas Bosman ‘Erfenis’ 2010 will be a Cape blend that will leave a proud legacy in years to come.