Rats-VATS Wine Tasting Evenings
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2011 Congratulations to Shelly who was our top taster. Also thanks to Geoff for setting up the tasting although as Bernd from Vats has pointed out, we aren’t a big fan of him introducing the evening with Pinot Gris! A curveball to start! Many thanks to Vats for a fun evening! Thank you to all the Rats who attended and hopefully you all had fun. We look forward to repeating the fun event next year. The Top ten for Rats were as follows: Shelly DeBeer 59 Rats total Score 386 and Vats 335
2010 Congratulations to Sarah Newton on her sterling performance. Now she has a truly prestigious award as the top taster at the competition. By the way she did manage to finalise a little qualification and is now a Cape Wine Master. I am sure, however, that she will value this tasting performance above all else! Rats had 38 people attend, and Vats 17. Here are the Rats top 10 scores. 1. Sarah Newton - 67 The Rats score was 435 and the Vats Score 226. Thanks very much to Geoff for putting the show together although the Chenin-styled Pinot Grigio was a bit nasty! Also many thanks to Rainold who supplied the sauce for superb Prego's and to Dave Moss who supplied the cooking equipment. And of course many thanks to all our members and to the visitors from Vats who made it such a fun evening. Wines were: 2009 Thanks to all 51 Cellar Rats members who supported us. For those of you who couldn’t make it, the great news is that we won. Cellar Rats won the overall competition. In addition we had the Top Novice taster (Rob Love 49pts), and Rudi Hiestermann won the Top Individual Taster prize with an incredible score of 67/70. He aced all 7 varietals and only missed on 3 of the vintages! A remarkable feat, and one that we’re not likely to see repeated again soon. Thanks to Geoff Carter for putting together a great selection of wines, and thanks to all those who helped with the setup, pouring wines and marking the score sheets. Once again Reinhold treated us to his wonderful saucy prego’s, the enduring queue for 2nd’s & 3rd’s being testament to their popularity. If the measure of a party is the time it shuts down, this was certainly a goody … the last folk left well after 2AM! Well done to Rudi, Rob and all the other Rats for a great performance, and a SPECIAL THANKS to VATS for hosting a lovely evening!
2008 Those of you who were unable to make it last night missed a great event! We had over 70 people in total, and Geoff put on a challenging tasting for us. The wines tasted were (in order):
Once again Cellar Rats were up to the task and we won the competition with 486 points to the VATS' 365. Well done Rats !!!
Cellar Rats top 10 scores were:
CONGRATULATIONS to Lucinda … Best Taster & Best Novice! Yowser!
VATS' top 10 were:
Thanks to all who arrived to make this a very enjoyable evening. SPECIAL THANKS to Geoff for putting the tasting together, and to Ian Grant for his scrummy spaghetti bolognaise! A lot of hard work went into this by both of them. From everyone at Rats, thanks guys!!!
2007 The turnout was great! Sixty-something folks there! Thanks to all, from both clubs, who participated!
Thanks to Vats for
hosting the tasting and the lekka chicken prego rolls!
Top novice went to
Ian Davidson – well done Ian!! (Don, we want you on our side next year :-> )
2006 Firstly, a huge thanks to all of you who came out on a chilly evening to support us! It certainly looked like everyone had a really good time, despite the weather. Before I get into the results, I'd like to thank Geoff for selecting & presenting the wines, and Ian & Claire for braving the cold to cook up a bunch of delicious burgers for us! 'Twas much appreciated! Now for the results: Best Novice went to a VATS taster, Angela Chatfield, with 38 points out of a possible 80 - Well done! Our best novice was Ashley Cage who scored 37, only one point behind - Well done Ashley! Christopher Cosgrove took the Best Taster of the evening with 57/80, a really good score. Chris got 6 of the 8 varietals correct, no mean feat considering what Geoff threw at us. It is also the 3rd time Chris has won Best Taster - In the history of the competition no one else has ever managed that! And now for the winning club ... <DRUM ROLL PLEASE> ... VATS won, with 381 points to our 371, possibly the closest finish in the history of the event. WELL DONE VATS! Our Top 10 Tasters were:
Wines tasted were:
Thanks to everyone who helped arrange the event, and thanks to Sarah & Chris who both did a lot of work preparing us for the tasting! And, finally, a message to VATS: "We'll be baaaaack!"
2005 After our 2004 defeat, it was sweet victory for Cellar Rats again. It sure is
great to have the trophy back! Final scores were 348 for Rats, and 307 for Vats,
making it 6 wins out of 8 for Rats! Although Geoff made it quite tough by putting in two Chenins and a Viogner
and leaving out staples like Sav Blanc & Chardonnay, we had some fantastic
scores, particularly from our top 3 tasters, Duane, Quentin and Shelley. Our top 10 scores (out of a possible of 80) were:
Thanks to all of you who came and took part! If you did not make the top 10,
take solace in the fact that many experienced tasters did not either, and many
of those who did make it this year, did not feature last year. Wine tasting is a
fickle thing! Finally, thanks to VATS for hosting the event, and to all those who had a
hand in making the food ... after a hard night's drinking it was greatly
appreciated by all! Here's looking forward to next year! 2004 I couldn't put it better than
Dave Moss: "What a great evening for everyone. 46 people for this function - 19
from Vats, 27 from Rats - The tasting was not easy.... as is most decision
making in life!" Thanks also to Ian grant for all the effort with the burgers ... they were excellent! Thanks to Geoff Carter for a
challenging wine selection, well done Maestro! The top ten tasters from VATS are; Shane Dean 50 (Top novice, top taster) The top ten tasters from Cellar Rats are; Rudi Hiestermann 40 2003
Please note: The following
should be sung to the tune of "We Are The Champions ... Again", that
delightful ditty by Frikkie Mercury, cross-dressing queen of Yeoville
It was a dark and stormy night
... and VATS never knew what hit them!
Cellar Rats have made it five
in a row ... we are now the undisputed heavyweight wine tasting
sonofabitchfinkelsteinshithot-champions of Gauteng !!! (well, the northern
suburbs at least)
Once again we made a clean
sweep, taking honors for the Best Taster, Best Novice, and Top Club
... Congratulations go to Alexandra McConville (Best Taster) for her stunning
score of 67(she got 7 of the 8 cultivars and 4 of the vintages correct). It
goes to show what practice, hard work, and a robust liver can do ... WELL DONE
ALEX!
Congratulations also go to
Quentin (Best Novice) who scored a very respectable 40, putting him in our top
10 for the evening.
AND - most importantly -
congratulations to EVERY Rats member who arrived at the tasting and
supported us ... Our championship-winning score was 504 vs. VATS' 402
... a veritable drubbing, a massacre, a right thumping! Surely this must go
down in the annals of VATS history as "Black Tuesday"?
A special mention must go to
Sarah Newton, without whose coaching we would no doubt have struggled - Thanks
Sarah!
To put our victory in
perspective, the top VATS taster of the evening scored 51 out of a
possible 80 (a very respectable score by any standards) ... our AVERAGE score
was 50.4!
As a Cellar Rats member you
must certainly be thinking "Gosh, the air is thin up here!" .. and with good
reason too! Five wins in a row, each more convincing than the last, is
something we can be VERY proud of .... WELL DONE CELLAR RATS !
Top 10 Scores follow:
Thanks to VATS for hosting a
wonderful evening!
2002
Well, the RATS vs VATS winetasting evening has come and gone. The tasting
was attended by 27 RATS and 23 VATS and was presided over by Geoff Carter.
Geoff tested our blind-tasting skills with 8 South African single-varietal
wines (4 white, 4 red), including one wicked curveball, a 2000 Malbec which
no-one got correct!
The wines presented follow:
Rupert and Rothschild Baronness Nadine Chardonnay 1998
Excelsior Sauvignon Blanc 2001 Groote Post Chenin Blanc 2001 Villiera Rhine Riesling 2001 Bushman's Creek Shiraz 1998 Ashanti Malbec 2000 Paul Cluver Pinot Noir 2000 L'Avenir Pinotage 2000
On paper the tasting looks quite straight forward, but the reds had many
people well confused, as did the older Chardonnay. As mentioned, not one
person got the Malbec correct.
Prizes were awarded for the best "novice" taster, as well as for the best
overall taster and the winning club.
And the prizes went to ...
<drum roll, please>
Top Novice (and tie 2nd highest score of the evening) went
to Yves Du Bois of Cellar Rats with a brilliant score of 58 from a possible
80.
Top Taster went (eventually!) to myself with 66/80.
And the one result that we were all waiting for .... Top Club,
with a score of 512 vs 477, went to CELLAR RATS ... for the 4th
consecutive year!
Cellar Rats top 10 tasters were : (scores between 38 and
66)
1. Terry Odgers 2. Yves du Bois 3. Debbie McCormick 4. Shelley de Beer 5. Alexandra McConville 6. Tim Jackson 7. Sarah Newton 8. Ian Grant 9. Jeanette Gombert 10. Claire Grant/Julia Jackson (tied on the tiebreak as well)
What was really satisfying to see was that, of the top ten tasters, all but
one (Alex) had attended the practice tasting - Maybe practice DOES make
perfect?
As always, this tasting evening was a lot of fun and it's continued success
can only be ascribed to the good sportsmanship which both teams exhibit.
It was wonderful to host the event at our venue this year and I'm sure I
speak on behalf of all who attended when I say we all look forward to next
years tasting evening to be hosted by VATS!
Thanks to the committee members (of both clubs) for the hard work and effort
they put in to make this the success it was. Thanks also to Alex for her
extra effort on color coding the score sheets and to Ian for standing in the
cold and cooking 90 burgers while the rest of us drank in the (relative)
warmth of the clubhouse. Thanks all!
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