Three perfect-score South African wines go under the hammer
Next month, for the first time, Strauss & Co will open its doors to host an unprecedented auction featuring a selection of fine and rare wines – 180-strong lots of fine wine, spanning 3 centuries and ranging from South Africa’s oldest living wine, Jaubert Muscat d’Alexandrie 1800, to the extremely rare Cordoba Crescendo 1998.
Strauss & Co’s inaugural Fine Wine Auction, to be held in partnership with online retailer WineCellar.co.za and leading Sommelier, Higgo Jacobs, takes place at 3pm on Saturday 8 June 2019 at Strauss & Co’s offices in Johannesburg when a selection of the finest South African wines will be offered. It forms part of a week of art and wine and follows after Strauss & Co’s first Saturday Live art auction which takes place in the morning.
Recent vintages have delivered a new level of quality, as international commentators agree that South Africa is undergoing a fine wine renaissance. World wine authority, Neal Martin, believes no other country is as ‘dynamic, progressive and exciting’. Expert sommelier, Higgo Jacobs, has carefully curated 180 lots, for what is arguably one of South Africa’s most exciting wine auction offerings to date. The auction hosts a line-up of great modern wines along with historic wines that energised the new generation of producers and includes South Africa’s three perfect-score wines.
Among the most impressive wine lots on offer, are four lots with 6 bottles of Kanonkop Paul Sauer 2015. South Africa’s own ‘first growth’ produced a 100-point wine in 2015 according to Master of Wine, Tim Atkin. Two other South African wines have received perfect scores from international critics and are also on offer. The GS 1966 Cabernet is shrouded in mystery and is arguably South Africa’s rarest wine. Produced as an experiment by George Spies, a winemaker at Monis, it was reportedly very tannic in its youth so it was never commercially released. As the wine matured rare bottles became recognised by wine royalty, most notably Jancis Robinson, who awarded it the perfect 20 points. More recently, the Chateau Libertas 1957 from the Winshaw cellar was awarded 100/100 from Master of Wine, Greg Sherwood. Both vintage gems herald from arguably the best cellars and the 1957 was recorked by Amorim Cork, securing quality and further long life.
This auction spans three centuries from South Africa’s oldest living wine, Jaubert Muscat d’Alexandrie 1800, to the latest 2018 vintage. Seven generations of the Joubert family have cared for the 100 litre barrel of Muscat which is topped up each year. The solera-style, richly-sweet wine was born in 1800 and was rated 99 points by Neal Martin. Other legendary wines include a Magnum of KWV 1948 vintage port, as well as the unreleased first vintage of Klein Constantia Vin de Constance, 1986. Two extremely rare wines from the 1990s are also on offer, 1 x 3 bottles of Cordoba Crescendo 1998 and 1 x 6 bottles of the Penfolds-beating Stellenzicht Syrah 1994.
Perhaps the rarest wine in the modern era featuring in the auction is a 1 x 6-bottle lot of the unreleased Alheit Family Radio Lazerus 2018. Only 76 bottles were produced from this dying old-vine Stellenbosch Chenin Blanc vineyard. Other ‘hens’ teeth’ lots to go under the hammer include the first vintage of Boekenhoutskloof, the Journeyman and Porseleinberg, as well as the Niepoort & Sadie Partnership, Cape Charme. 2 x 6-bottle lots of possibly South Africa’s finest red wine, Eben Sadie’s Columella, is available from 2012, along with a vertical case spanning 2001-2012. Some new stars include the Mullineux Family, Richard Kershaw and Crystallum.
Other leading modern producers to go under the hammer include multiple lots of both Vilafonte Series C and M, Chris Keet’s First Verse and Glenelly Lady May. More classic producers will also feature with mature vintages of flagship reds from Vergelegen, Warwick, Waterford, Meerlust and Rustenberg. Great vintages of mature whites from Ken Forrester and Paul Cluver join double Magnums of De Toren Fusion V and a 5litre Paul Sauer 1987 in a ground-breaking and comprehensive South African Fine wine auction.
Absentee Bids and Telephone Bids
Should you wish to participate in the sale but are not able to attend, you can submit absentee bids or request a telephone bid. Please email the completed bid form to [email protected] or contact us on +27 11 728 8246.
Fine wine educational workshops in the lead-up to the auction
Two Fine Wine Workshops will be held on 5 and 6 June at Strauss & Co, 89 Central Street Houghton. The auction will commence promptly at 3pm on Saturday 8th June.
The catalogue can be viewed on straussart.co.za and Winecellar.co.za from Friday 17th May.
Upcoming Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction in Cape Town
The second Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auction takes place in Cape Town on 14 September 2019. Details will be confirmed closer to the time.
About Strauss & Co
Strauss & Co is founded on prodigious expertise and distinctive presentation and is synonymous with top quality art, decorative arts and jewellery.
With an average turnover per annum of over R155 million and an average sell-through rate of over 80%, Strauss & Co has sold nine of the ten most expensive paintings ever auctioned in South Africa as well as holding numerous artists’ sale records.
Strauss & Co was established in 2008 by celebrated figures in the business world, Mrs Elisabeth Bradley and Dr Conrad Strauss as well as art doyen Stephan Welz, with the purpose of placing auctioneering on a plane worthy of the best South Africa has to offer in both the fine and decorative arts.
In March 2009 Strauss & Co held its highly successful inaugural auction selling over 87% of the lots on offer and turning over almost R 39 million.
Shortly afterwards a Cape Town office was established and auctions have been held bi-annually in both Johannesburg and Cape Town ever since.
In 2013, Strauss & Co became the first art auction house in South Africa to hold online art auctions featuring works of art by well-known artists that are targeted at entry-level buyers.
StraussOnline has grown exponentially with an average of four online auctions now being held annually.
About Wine Cellar
Wine Cellar’s 17-year history and close connections to South Africa’s best wine producers means securing exclusive releases and specialising not only in SA’s most sought-after wines but in Europe’s finest too and having an innate knack for unearthing future winemaking stars.
As well as providing top South African and international fine wine with expert advice to private customers, Wine Cellar is also the largest private wine storage facility in Africa managing 25 000 cases at any given time.
Wine Cellar will also host your private or corporate tastings with the option to create your own tailored tasting. You’ll find the Wine Cellar Cape Town tasting room at Price’s Park, Nelson Road, Observatory, Cape Town, 7925 and the Wine Cellar Johannesburg tasting room at Suite 1108 Dunkeld West Shopping Centre, Dunkeld, Johannesburg.
Higgo Jacobs
Certified Sommelier- CMS; SASA
Higgo Jacobs’s experience in the wine industry spans over 20 years, starting with doing harvests in Stellenbosch in 1998 and ’99, and interrupted by a law degree from the University of Stellenbosch. He has experience on either side of the cellar door: first as winemaker’s assistant, then marketing and sales.
Relocating to the UK in 2007, he cut his teeth on the wines of the world, working with highly respected importer – Anthony Byrne Fine Wines and later managing award winning wine merchant – ‘Jeroboams’ Notting Hill branch in London. While abroad, he studied with the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and certified with the Court of Master Sommeliers.
Higgo returned to SA in 2008 into the role of resident Sommelier at Steenberg Hotel, after which he started consulting in the industry and is now working with various establishments on their wine programs. As a consultant to the industry he drives a variety of projects ranging from annual fine wine events and auctions, to sommelier education and competitions, and he is often asked to represent South African wines on local and international platforms.
Higgo is senior judge at the International Wine Challenge (IWC) and Decanter World Wine Awards and was also on the jury at the ASI Best Sommelier of the World this year in Antwerp. He is a founding member and past Chairman for the South African Sommelier Association (SASA) that does training and development for the profession in South Africa as well as a member of the by-laws committee of the ASI (Association de la Sommellerie Internationale), the international regulatory body for the sommelier profession.