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
Read moreIT’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’
Read moreAWKWARD! 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
Read moreTHE MENTORS wines have been marvelled at and admired ever since the launch of this premium tier by the KWV in Paarl over a decade ago. The most consistent stars in the range include Pinotage and red combos such as the Perold Cape Blend and the Bordeaux-style Orchestra, one of only 29 wines in South Africa’s Hall of Fame. Plus,
Read moreSOUTH 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),
Read moreTHE 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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