Corporate sponsorships in the wine industry are often accompanied by donations intended to tick social responsibility boxes while the marketing folk get on with optimising the marketing value of the headline investment. There’s nothing wrong with that: brand money has to buy some form of reach if shareholders are to get an appropriate return on this form of expenditure.
Often the less visible charitable gestures are life-changing, because the department responsible for that decision is adept at securing real value for the beneficiaries, and is not simply preparing a plausible answer for the management committee. Very rarely, these efforts yield a result that outshines the commercial sponsorship.
When the Nedbank Group first became involved with what was then called the Cape Independent Winemakers Guild, the brand it designated for the organisation and its annual auction was American Express. This was back in the 1980s, when the idea of “social investment” had yet to tiptoe onto the stage.
A decade or so later the guild and the sponsorship was reinvented: Nedbank became the headline sponsor, and a trust was formed with a mandate to do upliftment work in the farming communities, as well as effect meaningful transformation within the wine industry. Over the years its achievements have been significant.
Running the numbers doesn’t do credit to the foresight and commitment shown by the bank and the members of the guild. The R18m that has been invested in various industry projects over the years doesn’t sound like much (on paper less than R1m a year), but what it has bought through astute and careful project selection has been substantial.
Almost 3,000 farm workers have been put through skills training; bursaries and funding for agricultural colleges have absorbed about 10% of the money. Primary schools in the winelands have received critical grants to complete projects — from white boards for classrooms to a roof for the school hall. (You do have to ask yourself why the central government could not have redirected a little of the Gupta money to these more vital projects).
Most importantly, the protégé programme — the heart of the trust’s work — has produced the first meaningful transformation results in the production side of the wine industry. There have been bursary programmes before, but few have come with a mandatory mentoring component: by placing the proteges in the cellars of the guild’s members over several years, there are now skilled, trained and sufficiently experienced winemakers occupying and fulfilling — on merit — key positions in the industry.
The wines for the upcoming auction also reflect a transformation in the approach of the guild and its members. Unlike the offerings of a few decades ago, they are not distinguished from the regular bottlings simply by a dollop of extra new oak. They are altogether more thoughtful, more visibly the result of a considered aesthetic vision.
In the space available it hardly seems fair to single out any wines from the almost 50 items in the line-up — especially since the full array, together with my scores and notes (all arrived tasted blind, that is without sight of the labels) are easily accessed online.
Comfortably in gold medal scores are a bunch of the usual suspects: Kanonkop’s Paul Sauer 2018 edged ahead of the rest of the field, though the Ernie Els CWG 2018, the Spier Frans K Smit 2018, the Groot Constantia Gouverneur’s Reserve 2018, Saronsberg Die Erf 2018, Luddite The Lone Stranger Mark II 2018, Gottfried Mocke’s Pinot Noir 2018, Warwick’s The White Lady Auction Chardonnay 2019 and Rijk’s Auction Chenin Blanc 2018 all ran very close. A single point below these were De Grendel’s Wooded Sauvignon 2020, Grangehurst’s Heritage 2018, Boekenhoutskloof’s Syrah 2018, Hartenberg’s CWG Shiraz 2018, Boplaas’s Daniel’s Legacy 2017, Miles Mossop’s Max 2018, Boschkloof’s Epilogue 2019 and the Boplaas Cape Vintage Reserve 2017.
It’s desperately unfair to separate these from the next tier on 94 points — the overall quality of 2021’s listings is so impressive: you could use a roulette wheel to make your selection, and still do well.
To bid online or to support the trust’s work go to capewinemakersguild.com.
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