Échanson Honoraire George Parkes hosted another annual tasting in the wine cellar at his home. This time it was for South African Cap Classic (CC) (no longer called Méthode Cap Classic) along with some Champagnes for a comparison.

As well as George, participating were: Jan Johnson; Bailli Honoraire Neil Els; Échanson Nell-Marie le Roux; Vice-Échanson Annelie Kruger; Vice-Culinaire Honoraire Denise Lindley; Chevalier Paul Kruger. Ilse van Staden prepared the lovely food that we enjoyed with the wines.

The blind tasting comprised three flights of four wines in different shaped Champagne glasses: traditional flute; obscure shaped flute; short flute; “Marie Antoinette” glass. The wines were scored out of 20 (up to 3 for colour, 7 for nose, and 10 for taste).

The top five wines were evenly spread between South Africa and Champagne with the scores being relatively close:
Score 17.6 - Le Lude Brut Reserve NV (Franschhoek, South Africa)
Score 17.4 - Champagne Mumm ‘Cordon Rouge’ NV
Score 16.4} - Newstead Blanc de Blanc 2015 (Plettenberg Bay, South Africa)
Score 16.4} - Champagne Veuve Clicquot NV
Score 16.2 - Longridge Blanc de Blanc NV (Stellenbosch, South Africa)

Once again, this was a very interesting exercise, star names not always performing well.

Based on a detailed report by Échanson Honoraire George Parkes