JUST A COUPLE of days was all it took. By Wednesday 11 June, the top-scoring white blend at South Africa's 2025 Trophy Wine Show was “Sold Out” at the cellar in Worcester and at the show's ‘designated retailer', Port2Port, i.e. barely 48 hours after the awards presentation on Monday 9 June. Cilmor Winery's first Sauvignon Blanc (75%) Semillon (25%) combo using grapes harvested in 2024 from the Moordkuil ward at the foot of the Dewetsberg mountain between Worcester and Villiersdorp. Discovery of the Show at just R99 a bottle!
Fine wines at under R100 a bottle are very rare. Even more so if they are very highly rated beauties as recommended by a respected panel of judges. Some years ago already, such was the scarcity of such bargain bottles that the page on Top Wine SA which people turned to for Top SA Wine Under R100 was changed to shine the spotlight on anything good at up to R150 a bottle. However, prices continue to rise as a consequence of increasing production costs, taxes, inflation, you name it… and, while the ceiling has since been raised to R200, it seems likely that the cut-off point will have to be adjusted again well before the decade is up.
Of course, when wine lovers hear about highly rated reds or whites going for low prices, it's to be expected that the bottles won't be on the shelf for long. To reduce the frustration of chasing down such specials only to find that they're sold out, the Top Wine SA listings of Top SA Wine Under R200 are removed six months after the panel ratings go public. In the case of trophy winners at crazy-low prices, however, the listings begin to lose their usefulness within days of word getting around, let alone months – although they might still point the way to producers offering good value wine of a different type or subsequent vintage.
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I always tell people that South Africa produces the best value for money wine in the world. Here is an excellent example of it!