ABSA Pinotage Top Ten Competition : Trophy A Competition with a unique Trophy.
The ABSA Top 10 Pinotage Trophy was designed to reflect the unique individualism of Pinotage and it's ability to express the essence of South Africa as embodied in the winners of the competition.
To this end Hermanus-based artist Arabella Caccia was commissioned to design a trophy that could reflect the truly South African origins of the Pinotage grape. The result is a stylish replica of a mid-1600's Dutch East India VOC wine glass mounted on a wooden pedestal.
The glass was created by Cape Town master glassblower Haegar Schultz, who has nearly thirty years experience in this ancient art form to his name and who also studied this craft in Italy. Each of the ten glasses that he creates for each year's competition varies slightly from the next, making each glass unique in its own right. Possibly the most difficult, yet most beautiful feature of the glass is the twist in the stem - found in many of the original pieces of the period. The engraving on the bowl was done with a diamond-tipped pen and each line, curve or circle of the motif required at least four etchings before taking on the form seen on the glass.
The wood used to make the base of the trophy is from the indigenous Cherrywood tree, Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus. The choice of this wood was in keeping with the desire to reflect Pinotage's South African lineage, as the distribution of this rare tree is confined to the George and Knysna areas of the Southern Cape. In addition, the unique hue of the wood somehow mirrors the lustre of the great Pinotage.
Finally, the trophy is rounded out with four ornate handmade clasps to keep the wine glass in place and which are fashioned from pure Sterling silver.
