Only two South African cellars at New York Wine Experience: KC and HRV
WHAT TO make of it?! Over 200 wineries exhibiting at the ‘Critics’ Choice Grand Tastings’ of Wine Spectator’s 2021 New York Wine Experience in October and Grand Tour of Las Vegas, Washington and Chicago in December: perhaps surprisingly, most (62) from Italy, then 51 of the USA, 28 from Spain, 23 from France, 15 from Portugal, 10 from Chile, 9 from Argentina, 7 from Australia, 4 from New Zealand, 2 from South Africa… Only two! Klein Constantia, showing their 2012 Vin de Constance dessert wine from Muscat de Frontignan, and Hamilton Russell Vineyards of the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley outside Hermanus, showing their 2020 Chardonnay.
Wine Spectator is one of the top publications for oenophiles in the United States, Wine Enthusiast being the main rival. Tickets to attend the main events at the “incredible” Experience and on the “spectacular” Tour sell for $500pp (over R7K) and $250pp respectively. Kudos to KC and HRV for rubbing shoulders with some of the other top wineries in the world. Two of the Cape’s standouts in the SA Wine Classification. But only two? What does it say about a wine-producing country vying for a bigger share of export markets internationally and especially in America? What do other top SA wineries need to do to share this stage? Or maybe Wine Spectator isn’t really that important in the greater scheme of things…
On South Africa’s presence at the 2021 New York Wine Experience: “Due to the restrictions in international travel due to COVID-19, we had a significantly reduced number of winery participants from South Africa for this year’s Grand Tasting. In the end only two could pour with us: Klein Constantia and Hamilton Russell.” About which wineries received a score of 90+ from Wine Spectator in order to be invited to participate at the NYWE: “You can find this information on the winespectator.com.” About who mans the stands: “In a normal year, Mr Shanken requires that at least one owner and/or winemaker be in attendance on both nights of the NYWE Grand Tasting. Due to the current world health situation we relaxed that somewhat for this year. With International travel bans lifted, these policies will likely go back into effect for next year’s event.” And about the exhibitor’s fee and whether the wineries are required to advertise: “This year the winery pouring fee was $9000 per winery. And, no. The advertising dept in no way influences who is invited by the WS board of senator editors.”