Those who remember the start-up years, recall how uppity some of us got when the Cape Independent Winemakers Guild announced that its first auction would take place in Johannesburg. Go sell (big) where the money is, was the (unspoken) argument. It did, in September 1985 in Rosebank, and didn’t do badly, thank you.

Well, 25 years down the line and the CWG is still very much after the money, with the auction in the Cape where it belongs. A quarter of a century later, the CWG outfit has polished those marketing skills and honed the PR suss aimed at those with the big bucks. Nedbank’s sponsorship provides the gloss.

Yet, if high prices have become to be accepted as the (easy) measure of artistry/quality - as it has in the real, consumer-driven art world as well - the annual wine list of the auction offerings can be scrutinised for providing what the market wants or needs. In other words, the selection - which we are told is rigorously and blindly done by CWG members - must keep (rich) punters, itching to buy bottles which they can happily show-off as auction loot. This is probably the easy explanation why some dodgy wines always make the cut as well.

Nevertheless, the annual CWG shindig is a big-deal wine event. And, in an overall assessment of what and where South African wine is, it has to be taken as heavy-weight despite the relatively small membership. It is pretty much accepted that this is the home of the industry’s best.

Theoretically then, the auction should offer the best wines being produced in the country, having been founded 26 years ago ‘to elevate the quality standards of South African winemaking and to gain international recognition’. Of course, winemakers being winemakers, there has always been an edge of experimentation and, over the years, some quirky wines (some smart enough) made it to the sale.

In the South African wine year of 350, the 25th anniversary auction has 41 wines plus a very smart brandy on offer. While there were no real duds at the formal tasting the other day, some wines were nothing more than just good. But thanks to the presence of two candidates of the CWG’s laudable protégé programme, Praisy Dlamini and Howard Booysen, as well as the handful of true great wines, the event was enthusiastically upbeat to count as celebratory.

* The 25th Nedbank CWG auction is at the Spier conference centre in the Stellenbosch on Saturday, October 3. Johannesburg punters can attend the ‘showcase’ on Thursday, August 27 at The Atrium, Nedbank Sandton at 18:30.

** For what it is worth, here are my star performers and outsiders-looking in:

Ataraxia Chardonnay 2008

Boekenhoutskloof NLH Semillon auction reserve 2006

Boekenhoutskloof Syrah auction reserve 2007

Boplaas 12-year-old Potstill Brandy auction reserve

Boplaas Cape Vintage auction reserve Port 2003

Bouchard Finlayson unfiltered Pinot Noir 2007

Cape Point Vineyards barrel-fermented Sauvignon blanc 2008

Le Riche Cabernet Sauvignon auction reserve 2007

Neil Ellis The Graduate 2006

Simonsig auction reserve Pinotage 2007

Waterford Estate auction reserve 2005

Beyerskloof Pinotage 2007

Boschkloof auction reserve Shiraz 2006

Cape Point Vineyards auction reserve Semillon 2008

Cederberg Teen Die Hoog Shiraz 2007

Flagstone The Secret Handshake 2005

Flagstone Weather Girl 2006

Jordan Sophia 2007

Louis Nel Neighbour's Wrath Cabernet sauvignon 2007

Nitida Decorous Sauvignon blanc 2009

Simonsig auction reserve Shiraz 2007

Villiera Shooting Star Chardonnay Brut 2005