Record entries received for the 18th Michelangelo Awards

Collotype Labels has come on board as premier sponsor of the awards, ensuring that the competition will continue and grow. A new, more elegant logo and user-friendly website was launched this week and an exciting Michelangelo Wine Club, run and managed by IQ Business, has been established in Johannesburg.

Now in it’s 18th year, the Michelangelo announced South Africa’s first Liqueur Awards in June, offering producers of liqueur and fruit spirits a first-ever platform to have their products judged by an international panel of specialist judges.

The Michelangelo is the only wine competition in South Africa with an exclusive international panel of accredited wine judges, international wine makers, wine masters and international sommeliers. This year again 18 wine and spirits specialists from 15 countries judged the entries for a week in August.

In total the judges awarded 607 medals, which represent just over a third of entries (as per the international OIV rules to which the Michelangelo ascribes). Awards comprised:

• 16 trophies
• 3 platinum medals
• 90 gran d’or (double gold) medals
• 222 gold medals
• 292 silver medals

This included the inaugural Liqueur Trophy as well as three gran d’or, five gold and seven silver medals for liqueurs.

Offering guidelines for international markets
“This year’s 22% increase in entries is an indication of the wine industry’s dramatic move to international markets over the past decade. As the world becomes smaller and the South African market becomes more and more saturated, producers are investigating more exports of their products. Michelangelo offers them the opportunity to gauge the international market and find those products which will appeal to international palates. The awards made by our international panel of judges offers these guidelines,” says Lorraine.

Classes’ detail
• The Sauvignon Blanc class again received the most entries among the white varietals, increasing to 178 from the previous record number already received in 2013. This class was awarded one platinum, nine gran d’or, 18 gold and 35 silver medals. The judges commented that the overall quality of the Sauvignon Blancs were impressive, and that the concentration of fruit and excellent fruit balance made for some exceptional wines.

• The Chardonnay class also received a significant number of entries, namely 133. These wines were well received by the international panel, who commented that they exhibited good wine making skills. Where wines were exposed to oak, it was used wisely and few examples were over-oaked. The judges found that the 2014 entries lacked balance and persistence, which was partly due to the lack of acid. Four gran d’or, fifteen gold and 21 silver medals were awarded in this class.

• A record number of 65 entries were received for the Method Cap Classique classes. Four gran d’or, eight gold and nine silver medals were awarded. The judges considered the MCC’s to be impressive and commented that the Cape is a top quality MCC producer and that producers should market this more effectively. The highest scoring wines in this class included Chardonnay and/or Pinot Noir in the blend.

• The Shiraz class had the overall most entries with 207 wines. Two gran d’or, 33 gold and 30 silver medals were awarded. The judges stated that the entries represented many great examples of South African Shiraz and that entries showed a variety of styles ranging from big, fruity wines to more elegant ones.

• The Pinotage class received good comments from the judges. Generally they were impressed with the wines entered and noted a number of different styles. They commented that a few years in the bottle makes all the difference to the overall quality and accessibility of the wines. The 2011 vintage was the most impressive with wines from this vintage year being well-integrated and showing good balance. Eight gran d’or, 23 gold and 13 silver medals were awarded.

• The class for Port-style wines is a small category but this class had excellent samples. Most of these showed good spirit integration and were well-balanced while the better wines had super fruit concentration, freshness and complexity. In this class respectively two gran d’or, gold and silver medals were awarded.

According to the competition rules no bronze medals are awarded and only the top third of entrants are awarded a medal.

The trophy winners
Kleine Zalze walked away with two trophies this year: the coveted Collotype Labels Grand Prix Trophy for the Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Chenin Blanc 2013 awarded by the judges as their collective best entry and the African Cellar Supplies MCC Trophy for the Kleine Zalze Vintage Brut 2009.

The first Liqueur Trophy was awarded to Wild Africa Cream Liqueur from KWV, who also received the Best Brandy Trophy for the Imoya VSOP Fine Cape Alambic Brandy.

The sixteen trophy winners

Medal winners

All entries were judged blind using the 100-point OIV judging system. The judging process and all results were audited by DDI Financial Solutions.

The following wines were awarded platinum medals:

The following wines were awarded Grand D’Or medals:

The 2014 judging panel
This year the judging panel consisted of 18 judges from fifteen different countries. The 2014 judges were:

1. Sue van Wyk CWM, Australia (Technical director)
2. Ingrid Adamiker, Austria
3. Chris Albas, Netherlands
4. Jochen Erler, Austria (Liqueur specialist)
5. Rubén García Franco, Spain
6. Adrian Garforth MW, UK
7. Denis Garret, France
8. Robert Gorjak, Slovenia
9. Cho Jung Yong, Korea
10. Mariusz Kapczynski , Poland
11. Martin Kristek, Czech Republic
12. Georgi Mihov, Bulgaria
13. Dermot Nolan MW, Ireland
14. Liz Palmer, Canada (Champagne specialist)
15. Javier Pulido, Spain
16. Christine Rudman, CWM, SA
17. Thierry Sabon, France
18. Rene van Hoven, Netherlands

The brandy and spirits judges:
1. Sue van Wyk CWM, Australia
2. Kobus Gelderblom, South Africa
3. Javier Pulido, Spain
4. Dr. Caroline Snyman, South Africa
5. Rene van Hoven, Netherlands

All results are available from the website: www.michelangeloawards.com.

Stay connected:
Twitter: @MiwaAwards
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Website: www.michelangeloawards.com
eMail: info@michelangeloawards.com

Photo caption:
Trophy and platinum winners:
Left to right: Front row: Danelle Conradie (Van Loveren), Christiaan van Huyssteen (Saronsberg Cellar), Wim Smit (Hofstraat Kelder), RJ Botha (Kleine Zalze), Johan Joubert (Boland Kelder), Lourens Stander (KWV), Pieter de Bod (KWV), Mari van der Merwe (Diemersdal Wine Estate).
Back row: Waldo Kellerman (Diemersfontein), Diego Baeza (Concha y Toro), Henri Swiegers (Badsberg), Johan Delport (Waverley Hill), Lorraine Immelman (Michelangelo International Wine & Spirit Awards), Mogamat Dickson (Louisvale), Shaun McLeod (Zorgvliet), Jaco Brand (Citrusdal Wines), Anri Beyers (Beyerskloof)