Tag Archives: awards

What does it mean to win double gold at the Veritas Awards?

TO WIN the trophy for top-scoring wine at the Veritas Awards is a fairly big deal! In 2023, there were 1247 entries (including spirits) in what is the biggest, longest-running SA wine competition. Of these, 81 were considered worthy of a double gold medal by panels of local and international judges, 70 in total, with double gold being the top

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Pinotage Rosé champs again: Landskroon, Rooiberg, Windmeul …

THE PINOTAGE Association’s competition for ‘pink’ wines made from South Africa’s Pinot Noir Cinsault cross was introduced fairly recently, yet already many Pinotage producers are trying their hand at it, if not perfecting the craft. Wine lovers might well wonder when certain champions of the variety including Kanonkop of Stellenbosch and Rijk’s of Tulbagh will enter the fray, so to

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Humble Sauvignon Blanc pulls it off at Michelangelo Awards

HOW ABOUT THAT! The Grand Prix trophy winners for the top-scoring red and white wines at the 2023 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards (SA) are Allée Bleue of Franschhoek for their 2018 Single Vineyard Syrah, and Rooiberg of Robertson for their 2023 Game Reserve Sauvignon Blanc. Who said Sauvignon Blanc can’t be taken seriously! 96+ out of 100. But

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Driehoek, La Vierge and Lothian vintages shine yet again

THERE WERE 30 of the Cape’s wine producers vying for the 2023 Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Awards, which is fairly impressive, given how niche the variety is in the country relative to Cabernet, Shiraz, Pinotage, Merlot… To lay claim, as the organisers do, to having come up with “the best Pinot Noir wines in South Africa” is a bit

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Iona on top of the world after great show at Decanter Awards

THE ACHIEVEMENT of Iona with the 2021 Chardonnay in their Elgin Highlands range at the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards (UK) was impressive, to say the least. Of all the Chardonnays entered in the competition, it was one of only 16 rated 97+ on the judges’ 100-point scale and one of only three honoured among the ‘Best in Show’ (Top

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2020 Le Riche Reserve Cab looks set to be rated best vintage yet

DESCRIBED AT the 2023 Decanter World Wine Awards in the UK as “graceful and accomplished”, the Le Riche Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2020 was the most highly rated red from South Africa and, from over 18 000 entries internationally, one of 50 wines celebrated as ‘Best in Show’. What the panel of judges experienced was: “Dark, black-red in the glass, with

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South Africa’s Iona and Le Riche among very best at Decanter WWA

IONA Chardonnay 2021 of the Elgin Highlands and the 2020 Reserve Cab from Le Riche in the Helderberg vineyards of Stellenbosch were the panels’ favourite South African wines at the 2023 Decanter Awards in London. A record-breaking 18 250 entries were received from 57 countries, assessed by 236 judges including 53 Masters of Wine and 16 Master Sommeliers. After weeks of

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Michelangelo wine tastings not what you might expect, but…

THE MICHELANGELO wine tastings at Southern Sun’s Rosebank Hotel (JHB) and Garden Court uMhlanga (DBN) in April/May are appealing. Although the timing is rather unusual… Now into its 27th year since the inaugural Michelangelo Awards in 1997, the judging at the biggest competition of its kind in South Africa tends to take place around July/August, with the results announced in

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Eat Out Awards: La Colombe best restaurant in Cape winelands

WHO SAW that coming! With Chef Johannes Richter in charge of the kitchen, The Livingroom at Summerhill Guest Estate outside Durban has been named Restaurant of the Year at South Africa’s 2022 Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards. Best in the Cape winelands? La Colombe at Silvermist in Constantia Nek, where Chef James Gaag orchestrates the food offering. Eat Out Chef

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Eat Out critics recommend Top 12 restaurants among the vines

ALMOST just as interesting as who is included on the A-list of South Africa’s leading restaurant guide, is who is left off. Of the 42 establishments Eat Out have applauded with star ratings in 2022, there are 12 in the Cape winelands, i.e. among the vines, near the cellars (see below), with quite a few more on the high streets

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Sauvignon Blanc can develop beautifully with age: Top 10 Awards

GIVEN THAT over half the number of entries in the 2022 FNB Sauvignon Blanc SA Top 10 Competition were made in 2022, i.e. 86 out of 161 wines from 102 producers, it’s perhaps no surprise that this vintage dominated at the awards presentation: six in the Top 10, with 13 in the Top 20. This was despite what some have described

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So many Veritas double golds. Please can we know the scores!

IT’S A PITY that the Veritas Awards don’t do more to showcase the very best wines of South Africa. Apart from the glorious exception of the Vertex Award presented for the overall champion (the highest-scoring wine in the competition), the furthest the organisers go in presenting a guide to the greatest wines from the Cape winelands is awarding ‘double gold’

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Boutique cellar in Ashton comes top at Michelangelo Awards

IN THE BACK corner of the Robertson Wine Valley is where the De Jongh family tell you their wine farm Kleinhoekkloof is located. It’s next to the Langeberg Mountains; you get there via Ashton, although it might be closer to Montagu as the crow flies. They’ve been bottling here since 2006, but the Grand Prix Trophy for the top-scoring dry

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Elgin 3:1 Hemel-en-Aarde – SA Pinot Noir Report 2022

SA Pinot Noir Report NO DOUBT some of the folks up and down the Hemel-en-Aarde between Hermanus and Caledon were a little twitchy after the results of South Africa’s 2022 Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Wine Awards went public. Only one of the winners was from that area of the country most renowned for this variety. Many of the entries

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SA Bubblies of the Year! South Africa’s Most Highly Rated in 2021

SOME AWARDS carry more weight than others, and there’s something to be said for a wine that ticks the boxes for a number of top tasting panels. Over 1500 South African wines were highly rated around the world in 2021, and the following are the sparkling wines among them that received the most glowing reviews of the year – bottled-fermented

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Outrageous! How can a competition winner not carry the highest score?

AWKWARD! Who was more embarrassed: the good folk at Spier Wine Farm in Stellenbosch, the South African National Wine Show Association who organise the Veritas Awards, or the sponsors of the competition? Whereas De Grendel Wine Estate in Panorama/Durbanville would be forgiven if they felt robbed! The 2021 prize-giving took place in early November and the Duimpie Bayly Veritas Vertex

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Spier Red Blend and De Grendel Shiraz ‘share’ top spot at Veritas Awards

THE DUIMPIE BAYLY Veritas Vertex Award for “the overall champion” at the 2021 edition of South Africa’s oldest bottled wine [and brandy] show, still one of the biggest competitions of its kind in the country, was presented to Spier of Stellenbosch for the 2018 vintage of their Creative Block 5, a Bordeaux-style red blend. However, special mention was also made

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Semillon the judges’ absolute favourite at Michelangelo Awards

IT WAS JUST a matter of time, some would say. The Benguela Cove estate alongside the Bot River Lagoon on the road to Hermanus has been on many a wine lover’s radar since entrepreneur Penny Streeter and her family began investing in the area and particularly after cellarmaster Johann Fourie came on board five years ago. Their success at the

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Feeling of déjà vu about latest competition involving ‘heartbreak grape’

  THE SECOND annual Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Wine Awards were contested by 42 producers who submitted 64 entries from various areas in South Africa, primarily from the Walker Bay district (24), Elgin (16) and Stellenbosch (6). Incredibly, four of the five winning producers in 2021 (see below) were among the previous winners in 2020, albeit with just a

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Cathedral Cellar Sauvignon Blanc 2019 ‘a really sophisticated offering’

WITH MUCH more focus these days on the name of a cellar in Paarl than that of the producer or the name it trades under, the label is an artwork in itself. Warshay Investments’ KWV Cathedral Cellar Sauvignon Blanc has been a friend of discerning wine lovers for many years, ranking among the Top 20 in the South African Wine Classification.

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