SHINING in a line-up of 157 sparklers on the tasting bench at the 2023 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, the 2017 vintage of KWV’s Laborie Blanc de Blancs was judged the best dry bottle-fermented wine made exclusively from Chardonnay and the best wine overall. This on top of the Paarl bubbly having been chosen as Best Cap Classique at the Trophy
DOMAINE des Dieux’s win at the 2022 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge was their third, having also been applauded as Best Producer in the 2018 and 2014 editions of the competition organised by South Africa’s Cap Classique Producers Association (CCPA). This time round, the 2016 vintage of Des Dieux Claudia Brut was named best wine overall, following the trophy-winning 2012
WHEN THE going gets tough, the tough get going! Nearly two years of COVID-19 restrictions had a significant impact on tourism around South Africa and the world in general, let alone that in the Breede River Vally and country towns such as Bonnievale. However, with things beginning to return to some form of normality the Jonker family at Weltevrede had
WINNER of the 2021 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge: Kleine Zalze Vintage Brut 2015. South African sparkling wine made according to the traditional method made famous in Champagne, France. Stellenbosch cellar of Kobus Basson. Stellenbosch grapes: 60% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir. Bottle-fermented, matured for five years prior to disgorgement. R238pb ex-cellar. This follows glowing reviews for the 2013 vintage, best
“THE WINE stood out for its absolute harmony – spectacular citrus purity with intricate biscuity etchings. Truly pristine” – 2020 Cap Classique Challenge judging convenor Heidi Duminy describing the competition winner Newstead Brut 2015 from Plett. Although, when the Challenge results were announced the name of this champion South African sparkling wine was given as Newstead Blanc de Blancs 2015,
PLETTENBERG BAY winery Newstead Wines has become the first producer outside the traditional Cape winelands to be crowned winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge. Newstead Brut 2015 won a double gold medal, trophy for Best Blanc de Blancs and was the top-scoring Cap Classique overall. This was the 19th Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, sponsored by the Portuguese company celebrating
TO SAY THAT the judges at the 2020 Cab Franc Challenge were impressed with the overall standard of the wines is an understatement: 29 of the 31 South African producers who entered the competition were pronounced winners and 90% of the entries (47 out of 52) from various parts of the Cape winelands were found to be of gold medal
VICTORY at the 2019 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge went to an eleven-year-old Prestige Cuvée from Boschendal of Franschhoek, the 2008 Jean Le Long Blanc de Blancs – made from Chardonnay, spending five years on the lees (spent yeast) prior to degorgement and another year on the cork prior to release. This bottle-fermented sparkling wine had already earned gold and
BASED in the foothills of the highest mountain on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge where ‘Heaven touches Earth’, is Domaine des Dieux, ‘Field of the Gods’. To get to the tasting room, off the R320 between Hermanus and Caledon, involves negotiating a dirt track through the vineyards to up where the views are pretty good – and where it can get pretty windy.
A GOOD YEAR it’s been for Domaine des Dieux up on the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge, between Hermanus and Caledon. 2018 began with inclusion among the Top 10 bubblies in the SA Wine Classification, then came a gold medal at the Sparkling Wine World Championships in the UK, and now No. 1 at the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge with the 2012 vintage of
AT THE TIME of writing, 46 years after South Africa’s first Méthode Champensoise sparkling wine was made at Simonsig in Stellenbosch (Kaapse Vonkel Brut 1971), the number of Cap Classique bubblies had grown to around 300, produced at some 200 cellars adhering to the traditional method* that dates back to the 17th century and which resulted in the famous wines
AFTER MUCH anticipation, the trophy laureates at the 2017 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge were announced at an awards function in Cape Town: Simonsig Cuvée Royale Blanc de Blancs 2012 (overall winner), Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut 2011 and Simonsig Woolworths Pinot Noir Rosé 2015, as well as Graham Beck Brut Zero 2005 in the Museum Class for wines no longer on
113 ENTRIES, 93 laureates, 36 bronze medallists, 47 silvers and 11 gold medal winners. Only 11 duds. What a fantastic hit rate! And the grand champion at the 2016 Amorim Cap Classique Challenge from Paarl: Anura Brut 2011 – R180 a bottle from the tasting room at the farm in the foothills of the Simonsberg. Anura Vineyards might not immediately spring
A SURPRISING result, to say the least! The winner of the 2015 Amorim Cork Cap Classique Challenge contested by 114 bubblies comes from a farm better known for red wines, especially Pinotage, aromatic whites including Gewürztraminer and Sauvignon Blanc – and not forgetting the Italian variety Barbera. However, while Altydgedacht has been making sparklers from Chardonnay in the traditional way since 2008,
BOSCHENDAL bubbly winemaker Lizelle Gerber is on a roll. The 2008 vintage of the Grande Cuvée Brut didn’t perform as spectacularly as her 2007 but the 2009 is off to a great start with a gold medal at the recent Michelangelo Awards and now first place in the latest Amorim Tsogo Sun Méthode Cap Classique Challenge even before the wine is
JC Le Roux Scintilla 2003 is theMCC Challenge winner for 2012 THE HOUSE OF KRONE was among the highlights of this year’s Méthode Cap Classique Challenge, sponsored by Amorim Cork and organised together with the Cap Classique Association which represents South Africa’s leading bubbly producers. The House of JC Le Roux won the competition with their 2003 Scintilla blend and scooped
