Consisting of six mates who kept on bumping into each other at trade events and enjoyed the company, they eventually decided to make it a THING, hence: SPOG WIJN (meaning ‘Brag Wine’ though much cooler sounding in Afrikaans). Together they found the after-party always seemed more fun than any of the events they participated in. They realised the best time to do business with the trade was after hours when the Somms, managers, and waiters had finished their shifts and were ready to play. It was this realisation that led to their hosting late-night events in Cape Town and Joburg to promote their wines, which fast became a well-kept industry secret and a great way to sell their very rare, small production wines to discerning trade and public, looking for an original collection of wines from a bunch of like-minded “chinas” (their word not mine). The group today consists of some pretty serious winemakers, including Adi Badenhorst (Badenhorst Family Wines), Sebastian Beaumont (Beaumont Wines), Miles Mossop (Miles Mossop Wines), Bevan Newton Johnson (Newton Johnson Wines), Tyrrel Myburgh (Joostenberg Wine Estate) and Adam Mason (Raised by Wolves).
Sunday Night Blues
This year, the Spog Wijn Klub invited me to a Sunday night event in Stellenbosch, at the unholy hour of 5 pm. 5 pm on a Sunday night being the playground of Sunday night blues and Carte blanche - not that I can watch Carte blanche, the theme song alone makes me want to cry. I really didn’t think anything could lift my mood, institutionalised as it was. But the guys did. Rockstars to a man, with the wine to prove it. The Krismis Boks, by definition, contains the best wines of the year as judged by its maker (and his chinas) - which, if you’re going to believe anyone, should be them. If you wanted to hear it from someone else however, you’d be well advised to listen to a Mr. Tim Atkin who has consistently rated the wines in this case amongst the very best. Of Beaumont’s 2017 New Baby, he writes: “Confirming that the brilliant first release was no flash in the proverbial pan…” rating it 94 points. Or Miles Mossop’s 95 point, 2016 Saskia: “Even more complex than Miles Mossop’s Saskia-Jo bottling…” Tyrrel’s Myburgh Bros. Muscat d’Alexandrie is an ode to the Cape, his other smaller production wines a revelation. All-in-all the perfect antidote to all your Sunday night blues, ever.
Haste
While we’re loathed to part with any of them, we’ve got 40 cases to share with you (having sold a number of pre-releases at the event already). So given the season, the spirit and the absolute SPOG WIJN, we’d suggest haste.
