Springboks and Kiwis

South Africa

vs.

New Zealand

As far as preliminary round goes, this was one of the more intriguing matches. As host of the actual World Cup, South Africa got the nod as the seeded team, but, in my opinion, New Zealand is no slouch on the red wine scene.

I think it's fairly safe to say that the two countries have different approaches to the production of wine. I don't know if either one of them can expect to score big on the soccer field, but either one could make quite a run in these World Cup of Wine playoffs.

500. 2007 Goats Do Roam (Coastal Region Wine of Origin - South Africa)

501. 2007 Allan Scott Pinot Noir (Marlborough - New Zealand)

This taste-off had some real potential. Goats Do Roam has been around for a number of years now in our market. Like many, I've enjoyed the wine and whimsical take on Cotes du Rhone wines since it first appeared. I thought even more of it when I read that the French were trying to take legal action to stop the use of the name.

On a side note, I never did find an English red wine (or white for that matter) for this competition but it would have been quite the marketing ploy to dream up a Cotes du Rooney. I can just taste the brusque profile of the wine being served up. It might not have a lot of finesse but it'll have some sort of punch.

But that's for another time.

The Allan Scott was one of the wines that I'd picked up at this year's Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival. I figured it had a good chance at an upset. Maybe it wasn't fair to put a Pinot up against a wine based on predominantly Rhone varietals and, in particular, Shiraz, but, then again, I wanted to put up a representative wine for each of our participating countries and teams on the soccer pitch can be drastically different in game plan as well.

Unfortunately for the Kiwis, this wasn't the foremost of Pinot profiles and it was a bit to reserved when compared against the South African wine. The Syrah takes this match with its more robust structure and fruit. It wasn't a shut out but I score it a 3-1 win for Goats Do Roam.