This cultivar was honoured with the sought-after General Smuts Trophy – the highest honour to be bestowed upon a young wine - for the first time since 1952 when the General Smuts Trophy was inaugurated. This wine, made by Boland winemaker Bernard Smuts and his team, was also crowned as SA Champion Chenin Blanc.
Badsberg Wine Cellar in Rawsonville put in a
stellar performance. Cellarmaster Willie
Burger and his formidable team scooped the Pietman Hugo trophy for the
highest score for the five best entries for the fourth time. Badsberg also claimed the
trophies for SA Champion White Blend with a Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay (wooded)
and SA Champion Dessert Wine for their White Muscadel/Hanepoot Jerepigo.
Two
other cellars walked away with two trophies too. Spier cellarmaster Frans Smit and the winemakers showed their prowess with young white wines
by winning a pair of SA Championship trophies for Sémillon and Chardonnay
(wooded).
The
trophy for the SA Champion Natural Sweet White Wine went to André and Jacques
Bruwer of Bon Courage near
Robertson. The cellar’s Noble Late Harvest (wooded) was also crowned SA
Champion.
SA
Champion trophies were also awarded to: Perdeberg SA Champion Sauvignon Blanc ; Stettyn
SA Champion Other White
Cultivar Colombar ; KWV SA Champion Red Blend Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon (wooded) ; Bellingham SA Champion Pinotage (wooded) ; Audacia SA Champion Shiraz (wooded) ; Lutzville
Vineyards SA Champion Cabernet
Sauvignon (wooded) ; Namaqua SA Champion Merlot (wooded) ; Babylon’s
Peak SA Champion Other Red
Cultivar Grenache (wooded) ; De Krans SA Champion Port (vintage) and Montagu Wine Cellar SA Champion Muscadel with a Red Muscadel Jerepigo.
Of the 1 972 young wines entered, 17
won SA Champions trophies, 50 achieved class winner status and 77 were
awarded gold medals.
The 2014 SA Young Wine Awards ceremony was
presented in the Good Hope Suites & Market Hall, Grandwest Casino. The
event was hosted by the South African National Wine Show Association
( SANWSA) and Agri-Expo, who has been
involved in this competition since its inception 182 years ago, with Sanlam
recently joining as co-sponsor.
The SA Young Wine
Show is the oldest wine show in South
Africa. It dates back to 1833 when the first
show was held by the Cape
of Good Hope Agricultural Society
(now Agri-Expo) in Rondebosch.
Visit the SA Young
Wine website at www.youngwineshow.co.za for more information.
Find the latest SA Young Wine news on Facebook, Twitter and Google+
Captions
Boland
front l to r Johan Joubert, Bernard Smuts, Jaco Engelbrecht, JD Rossouw
back l to r Handré Barkhuysen, Heidi Dietstein, Paul Malan
Badsberg
front Willie Burger, Henri Swiegers
back Jaco Booysen, Nicholas Husselman
2014 SA Young Wine Champions (group)
front l to r
Pieter Bruwer (Bon Courage), André Bruwer (Bon Courage),
Bernard Smuts (Boland), Isabel Teubes (Bellingham), Willie Burger (Badsberg),
Izelle van Blerk (KWV), Jacques Erasmus (Spier), Stephan Basson (Babylon’s
Peak)
back l to r
JM Crafford (Stettyn), Jaco Booysen (Badsberg), Nicholas Husselman (Badsberg),
Jaco Engelbrecht (Boland), Louis van der Riet (De Krans), Johann Smit (Spier),
Henri Swiegers (Badsberg), Michael van
Niekerk (Audacia), Albertus Louw (Perdeberg), Reinier van Greunen (Namaqua),
Hermias Vollgraaff (Montagu), Jaco van Niekerk (Lutzville).
Photographer
Lionel Besterfield