Tag Archives: Veritas

Another champion Cap Classique, the ‘Joy of Life’, not yet sold out

AMAZINGLY, well into 2024 – after the December festivities, months since the wine top-scored at the 2023 Veritas Awards to win the Duimpie Bayly Vertex Trophy – the Benguela Cove Cap Classique Joie De Vivre (Joy of Life) Brut 2019 was still available ex-cellar! With only the third edition of this bottle-fermented bubbly from Penny Streeter’s estate between Bot River and

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These are THE top SA wine events in November and December 2023

NOVEMBER 2023 1 NOVEMBER Caroline’s White Wine Review | Cape Town 1 NOVEMBER Veritas Tasting | Johannesburg 4 NOVEMBER Cap Classique Affair | Stellenbosch 4 & 5 NOVEMBER Pick n Pay Wine & Food Festival | Johannesburg 4 NOVEMBER Swartland Seaside Party | Saldanha 8 NOVEMBER Iconic Sauvignon Blancs | Cape Town 9 NOVEMBER Botriver Vineyards Roadshow | Johannesburg 9 NOVEMBER Veritas Tasting |

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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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These are no ordinary SA wine events… Oct & Nov highlights

WHAT A LINE-UP of top SA wine events to look forward to in October ’23! In Johannesburg: WineX and Veritas. And in the Cape: the Chardonnay & Pinot Noir Celebration, Veritas Cape Town, Swartland Sosiaal in Piketberg and the CWG Auction, Somerset West. Then, come November: Caroline’s White Wine Review in Cape Town; the Botriver Vineyards Roadshow and Pick n

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Some Veritas champs recommended by more than one panel …

OF THE 95 wines judged worthy of double gold medals at South Africa’s 2022 Veritas Awards, there are 19 standouts on the basis of various tasting results… 95 is a big number, and the organisers won’t publish the scores, which range from 93 to 100, i.e. they tell the respective wine producers who entered the wines, but they won’t tell

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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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That South Coast Show, WineX, Pinotage Festival, Caroline’s…

  BRING IT ON! October 2022 is brimming with top South African wine events, at least one of which is free… All you have to do to attend ‘That South Coast Show’ put on by the ‘new wave’ winemakers of The Cape South Coast on 4 October is to accept their invitation – just click on the RSVP button and

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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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First Journal of Pinotage lives up to promise of Diemersdal’s finest

TROPHY at the 2020 Absa Top 10, Double Gold Medal at the Veritas Awards and 5 Stars in Platter’s SA Wine Guide! The Journal represents what cellarmaster Thys Louw and the team of winemakers regard as the ultimate expression of the variety at Diemersdal Estate in Durbanville. And what a flying start to a new chapter of this farm with

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Veritas Vertex Award goes to Bordeaux-style Orchestra from KWV

SOUTH AFRICA’S 2020 Veritas Awards attracted some 1300 entries that were assessed over five days by 64 judges teamed-up into panels of three – all local wine experts, as the travel restrictions imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the participation of international critics. The most keenly contested categories were Red Blends (181 entries), Sauvignon Blanc (149), Cabernet Sauvignon (123),

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Gouverneurs Res garners glowing reviews from Sommeliers, Veritas, NWC

CELEBRATING her 335th birthday in 2020, the Grande Dame of Cape Town’s winelands ranks as one South Africa’s Top 30 cellars. Chardonnay and dessert-wine fans might argue that Groot Constantia is among the country’s top five or six estates, at least, although it can be challenging to pinpoint exactly which category the team is best at or the property most suited

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Too low? Too high? If only we could all agree on wine rating definitions

THE CONTENTIOUS issue of wine ratings and awards continues to flare up from time to time, with outspoken wine lovers, wine scribes, critics and judges at odds with each other to the point of disbelief, even outrage. The problem? Firstly, there’s not enough consensus regarding which scoring system to use – star ratings aside, there are different versions of the

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Where to go, what to sip? Top SA wine events to head for in November

AFTER the major Joburg wine fest that is WineX, comes a new Chenin celebration at the Perdeberg cellar in Paarl and a party of note in Riebeek Kasteel. The Veritas roadshow travels to Durban before ending in PE, while the Tops at Spar Wine Show will put up the tent in East London, then Nelspruit. Those up for a road

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Domaine des Dieux and Spier biggest winners at 2019 Veritas Awards

TOP SCORE OVERALL to a Chardonnay from a boutique producer off the beaten track. Only one double gold for Shiraz, one of the most keenly contested categories in which 149 wines were entered! The Veritas Awards are seldom without some surprises or discoveries. As one South Africa’s major wine and spirit competitions – attracting 1491 entries in 2019 – the

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Festivals, auctions and dinners among top SA wine events in October

  THE TOPS at Spar Wine Show takes place in Menlyn Park, Pretoria, the Nedbank Cape Winemakers Guild Auction at Spier in Stellenbosch. No, this Stellenbosch Wine Festival takes place at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg. The Old Vine Project Masterclass is hosted by Wine Menu in Kramerville, Johannesburg. The Institute of Cape Wine Masters will present an evening with

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Winter Ferment another golden success for Diemersdal. Ice wine next?

  DIEMERSDAL has a reputation for being a Sauvignon Blanc specialist pushing the envelope, and ‘Winter Ferment’ is the latest innovation in what cellarmaster Thys Louw describes as a New World style. After the harvest in February, the grape juice/must is frozen and kept at -20°C until June before being thawed and fermented in the Cape winter. Unique in South

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Koetshuis does it again – now with input from Lutzville and Darling

NAMED AFTER the coach house that De Grendel founder Sir David Graaff built in 1898 to shelter his horses, wagons and carriages, the Koetshuis Sauvignon Blanc used to be made from grapes harvested partly from a vineyard near the old coach house and partly from vines located in Darling. For the 2017 vintage, the grapes came from Darling and Lutzville, none from the

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Before Veritas, few had even heard of Blanc de Blancs Pongrácz!

TAKEN BY SURPRISE! Just recently added to the Pongrácz range of Cap Classique bottle-fermented sparkling wines, the non-vintage Blanc de Blancs (white from white) version made entirely from Chardonnay – no Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier – has been quick to find favour among bubbly connoisseurs. The Vertex trophy winner as top-scoring wine overall and the only Chardonnay to win a

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Another good year for Cap Classique as Pongrácz honoured at Veritas

THE VERTEX trophy for Overall Champion at the 2018 Veritas Awards was presented to JC Le Roux of Distell for their Pongrácz Blanc de Blancs NV Cap Classique. This bubbly, made from Chardonnay in the style for which Champagne is famous, was the highest-scoring wine among the double gold medallists selected from over 1600 entries in this competition convened by

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