The Cape Winemakers Guild saw wines sold for record prices on Saturday at its annual auction and charity auction, plus increased interest from foreign buyers.
Purchases topped R5 000 for some cases available at the 23rd annual Nedbank CWG Auction, which raised just over R4,93-million by the day's close from an assortment of private collectors, restaurant owners and hoteliers.
The top-priced red wine, Marc Kent's Boekenhoutskloof Syrah Auction Reserve 2005, went for R5 400 for a case of six bottles, while the highest bid for a white wine was R3 300 for a case of Steenberg's The White Savage 2008.
"Within the context of the ruling global economic conditions and the past two weeks of political uncertainty in South Africa, the guild can be proud of the splendid results at this year's auction," CWG chairperson Philip Constandius said.
Meanwhile, the unique blended reds and other speciality wines up for grabs at the charity auction grossed R109 500 for the Nedbank CWG Development Trust, which runs several projects to benefit winemaking communities.
Last year's charity auction netted R90 450 for the trust.
Although this year's auction saw fewer buyers in attendance, profits were down only slightly from last year's "really outstanding" auction, which earned just over R5-million.
"Although we had fewer buyers, we had more buyers spending more", auction manager Kate Jonker said, with many passing the R50 000 mark in total purchases. For the seventh year in a row, Alan Pick of The Butcher Shop & Grill was the biggest spender, tallying over R1,3-million.
Jonker said it was "encouraging" to see new buyers from abroad at the bidding.
Twenty-two of the 100 buyers were from outside of South Africa, representing, among others, Russia, the UK and, for the first time, Canada.
Foreign buyers contributed 20 percent of total sales, up from 18 percent in 2007. Jonker said the rise suggested foreign buyers were increasingly "recognising the brand" of SA's top wines.
Besides the top-selling red and white wines, others also fetched exceptional prices per six-bottle case, such as the Engelbrecht Els CWG 2006 which sold for R5 200 and the Thelema Auction Reserve 2006 which went for R4 600.