Terracura Wines, in Cape Town's Northern Suburbs, is buzzing with activity in preparation for the harvest, which is two weeks early. Chris Groenewald, co-owner and winemaker of Terracura, is juggling this interview while selling wine, putting wax on bottles and directing repairs on the cellar's cooling system that broke the day before.
Despite all the chaos, Groenewald remains calm, a characteristic that is of utmost importance if you captain the South African blind-tasting team in the World Blind Tasting Competition, as he did at Château Sainte-Roseline in Provence, France, in 2023, and at Chateauneuf du Pape in the Rhone wine region in 2021.
The South African team is selected based on their performance during the South African Blind Wine Tasting Championship, with the winner being appointed as captain. Each team comprises four tasters and a coach.
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