Category Archives: Michelangelo International Wine Awards

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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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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South Africa’s most highly rated Cabernet Sauvignon in 2022

‘EXTRAORDINARY. Profound.’ That’s what the Winemag judges thought of Koelenhof Winery’s ‘Stellenbosch 1679’ Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 when reviewing it for the 2022 Prescient Report. The only wine among the 64 entries from 51 SA producers scored more than 95/100, it’s one of the 24 most highly rated Cape Cabs assessed by top panels locally and internationally during the past year

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South Africa’s most highly rated Chardonnays in 2022 to date

NOT A SINGLE Chardonnay considered better than 94/100 in Winemag’s 2022 Prescient Report on the category in South Africa? In the collective opinion of editor Christian Eedes and his fellow judges on the panel, James Pietersen and Jolette Steyn of retailer Wine Cellar in Cape Town, there weren’t any ‘extraordinary’ or ‘profound’ examples among the 80 wines from the 59

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Does South African Rosé rock, or what?! Prices on the rise

WE MIGHT never know whether the pink wine from Aaldering of Devon Valley in Stellenbosch was a contender for one of the 2022 Pinotage Rosé Awards. It might have been interesting to see whether the panel appointed by the Pinotage Association concurred with that at the Michelangelo Awards (SA) who a few weeks earlier had presented a trophy no less

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Who says you can no longer get a decent drop for under R100?

MANY WOULD wager that GREAT reviews for wines at under R100 a bottle are a thing of the past. Not so according to the judges assessing what was entered for various top panel tastings in 2022 including the Chenin Blanc Challenge, the Michelangelo International Wine Awards and the Top 10 Pinotage Competition – to name just the most recent shows.

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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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Bellingham Old Vine Chenin continues good run of form × 2

FOR DECADES the top white wine in DGB’s premium Bellingham range was labelled The Bernard Series Old Vine Chenin Blanc: WO Coastal Region, with grapes from Bottelary in Stellenbosch playing the leading role. Come 2020, a single-vineyard version was released, 2018 being the maiden vintage, the fruit from Durbanville plantings dating back to 1983 and with the front label proclaiming

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Cap Classique and Chardonnay adventures to explore at ‘new’ Weltevrede

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

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Exceptional at under R100 a bottle – according to two panels or more!

BEFORE considering the majority vote… Upon conclusion of the 2021 Ultra Value Wine Challenge, the guys and gals at BuyBetterWine.com announced their SA red and white wines of the year to be the 2018 vintage of Stellenbosch Hills Merlot, at the cellar-door price of R92 per bottle, and the 2021 Goudini Chenin Blanc at R60pb from uniWines in Rawsonville. Also

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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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Michelangelo trophy for top-rated wine on show goes to Franschhoek

THE Michelangelo Awards remains one of the biggest South African wine competitions, contested by many leading cellars in the Cape winelands. The 2020 edition attracted 1558 entries, and, as in 2019, the judges were particularly impressed by the Chardonnay class: the Grand Prix Trophy on this occasion was presented for the Chamonix 2018 from Franschhoek, following the top score for

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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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Groot Constantia top-scores yet loses to Boplaas at Michelangelo Awards

IT CAN TAKE a while to get your head around the Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards held in South Africa. Platinum medals are presented for wines scored 96+ out of 100, but not if they go on to win a trophy. Trophies are awarded to wines that scored highest in their classes, but they are not awarded in every

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Special vintage of Du Toitskloof Red Muscadel all but sold out

THERE’S a bit of ‘hush hush’ to this wine. It orginates from a single vineyard, within a few kilometers’ radius from the cellar outside Rawsonville, but nobody’s saying just where the block is to be found. It’s a little like gold, this red Muscat – with demand growing as word got around that the latest laureate is even better than the

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Where nature meets art meets wine: Saronsberg, Shiraz, Sensational

THE WINELANDS of Tulbagh are best known for Cap Classique, Pinotage and Shiraz. Or vice versa, you could say. And when it comes to Shiraz from this district in the Upper Breede River Valley, Saronsberg is second to none. From one of the Top 20 cellars in the country, both the Rhône-style blend Full Circle and the single-varietal Shiraz are among

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Simple, smart, superior red blend! Rhône-style Spier No. 3 still on song

THE CREATIVE Block range of wines from Spier in Stellenbosch is one that explores the art of blending, which in the case of No. 3 is about balancing the components of a Rhône-style combination, with Shiraz playing the leading role. The figure has to do with the number of varieties in the blend. And like its predecessors, the 2015 is rather

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2016 Cape Port from De Krans one of, if not THE best of the vintage

5 STARS in Platter’s Guide, Platinum at the Michelangelo Awards, one of the Top 10 in the Cape Port Challenge, Gold at the Veritas Awards, and still so young. From Calitzdorp, South Africa’s Port Capital in the Klein Karoo comes the 2016 vintage of De Krans Cape Vintage Reserve, a wine with Hall of Fame credentials for as long as we can

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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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Another goal for Stellenbosch Shiraz, bragging rights to Kleine Zalze

IF THE QUALITY isn’t up to spec, Kleine Zalze won’t bottle their top-of-the-range Family Reserve. There wasn’t a 2011 Shiraz, nor a 2014, but after the current-release 2013 comes the 2015 Family Reserve Shiraz, which will go on sale already highly recommended by panels of experts at first the International Wine Challenge, then the International Wine & Spirit Competition (also

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