Q&A with Higgo Jacobs of Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auctions
Just ahead of the 38th Cape Winemakers Guild (CWG) Auction, we caught up with Higgo Jacobs, who is a curator and partner of Strauss & Co Fine Wine Auctions. Higgo’s career in the wine industry spans over 20 years. Certified with the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS), Higgo is a founding member and past chairman of the South African Sommeliers Association (SASA). He is also Director of By-Laws for the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI).
How can bidders benefit from the 2022 hybrid format?
The combined live and virtual auction format allows our clients to choose to either come and experience this wine-calendar highlight in person, enjoying the full hospitality and the hype in the room, or to view and participate in the auction from the comfort of their homes or any location they choose.
Which varieties or wine styles do you anticipate will do particularly well on this year’s auction?
This is one of the most diverse and interesting auction offerings ever from the guild’s members. There truly is something for every taste, and it’s interesting to see the innovation towards lighter expressions of red-wine styles, even from the more established and classic producers. These will be well received, but in the end it’s the producers with the strongest followings who perform best at this sale.
Which wine would you personally recommend buying (and bid on if you could)?
The Boplaas Cape Tawny Reserve 2005 is a personal favourite. It spent 16 years in barrel before it was bottled! The complexity and delicious layers of flavour are staggering. It is also a wine that will outlive us all.
Are there wines with ageing potential that can be bought as an investment by wine collectors?
We think that all the lots on this sale are age-worthy and will appreciate in value. These wines are still very youthful, and are made to have the potential to age – even the whites. We have seen from small parcels of older vintage CWG wines sold on the Strauss platform from private collections over the past three years that there is high demand for vintage wines that have been stored correctly.
What are your predictions for this auction?
As the leading auction house in South Africa, Strauss & Co is delighted to partner with the CWG in offering these rare, bespoke and class-leading wines to the market. The CWG has spearheaded the wine industry for the last four decades in driving the overall quality of South African wines. Using the momentum Strauss & Co has gained in the secondary market in establishing liquidity and price discovery, we hope to build on this success and develop the guild even further.
