Keimoes Cellar Takes Best Winery Title at Tops’ Orange River Cellars Competition

Friday, 24 October, 2014
Orange River Cellars
Keimoes Cellar, situated 40km west of Upington on the banks of the Orange River, this year dominated South Africa’s leading retailer-driven wine show, the Tops at Spar/Orange River Wine Competition.

Keimoes, one of the five wineries in the stable of Upington-based Orange River Cellars, was announced Grand Champion Cellar for 2014, winning awards for Best White Cultivar (Colombard), Best White Blend (Colombard/Chenin Blanc), Best Red Cultivar (Shiraz), Best Red Blended Wine (Petit Verdot, Shiraz, Cabernet Franc and Best Dessert Wine (White Muscadel). Unsurprisingly, Keimoes Cellar winemaker Rianco van Rooyen was named the Competition’s Champion Winemaker for his Keimoes Shiraz.

Mariken Jordaan, also from Keimoes Cellar, was named Runner-Up Champion Winemaker.

This unique wine competition, now in its 13th year, celebrates the relationship between South Africa’s top wine retailer, Tops, and Orange River Cellars, the country’s largest winery which also supplies the wines for Tops’ private label wine, Carnival, as well as to incentivise winemakers towards improving overall wine quality.

For this annual highlight on the winemaking calendar, winemakers from Orange River Cellars’ five wineries – Upington, Groblershoop, Grootdrink, Kakamas and Keimoes – each make wines specifically for the competition.

The judging panel for 2014 comprised Tinus van Niekerk, one of South Africa’s foremost wine experts who is also consultant to Tops at Spar, Joaquim Sá from cork company Amorim, journalists and international wine judges Neil Pendock and Fiona McDonald, Guy Webber from Stellenzicht, Ntsiki Biyela from Stellekaya Winery in Stellenbosch and Yonder Hill cellarmaster Abé Beukes.

According to Mark Robinson, CEO of Tops at Spar, the quality of Orange River Cellars’ wines and the passion, skill and commitment of the local winemakers was “truly incredible”.
“This is not only being recognized in this Tops at Spar/Orange River Cellars Competition, but also at leading shows throughout the country,” he said. “This year saw Orange River winning an Old Mutual Trophy for its Red Muscadel and recently the winery’s magnificent Colombard received a Gold Medal at Veritas. The region and this winery’s time have come. And we at Tops at Spar would like to believe that the enthusiasm with which the winemakers take on this competition has over the past 13 years played a role in inspiring them to create a standard of wine excellence along the Orange River.”

Robinson said the partnership between Tops at Spar and Orange River is one of great mutual benefit.
“From Orange River Cellars’ side, the winemakers are producing individually crafted products of excellence in wine styles not found anywhere else in South Africa. From Tops’ side we are truly lucky to have a strong relationship with such a formidable team of winemakers and in Orange River Cellars a business entity with superb logistical resources and management skills.”
“As they say in the classics, it is a win-win situation, and this annual competition celebrates this unique relationship between Tops and Orange River Cellars.”

Judge Guy Webber echoed Robinson’s call for regional wines to be bottled separately to express the individual pockets of terroir found in the areas from where the grapes are sourced.

“Currently Orange River Cellars is doing an amazing job in the market by getting one brand - Orange River Cellars – into the public domain, offering terrific wines at stunning value-for-money prices,” said Webber. “However, the wines we judges get to taste from each of the five separate cellars tell us there is more than enough individual expression of terroir and unique character that these wines will make true waves in the market if bottled on their own.”

According to Webber, other wine regions in the world would do anything to get their hands on wines offering such pure fruit. “The fruit-forward flavours – clean, delicious and bright – are a feature of the wines from the Orange River,” he said. “They are gems and the best thing is, as a winemaker you don’t have to give your accountants sleepless nights as the grapes don’t require lots of new wood or extra tannins to express themselves. This is a region where it all comes naturally.”

Rianco van Rooyen, this year’s Champion Winemaker, said it is both an inspiration and a challenge to make wines for the Tops at Spar/Orange River Cellars Wine Competition.
“The five cellars in the Orange River Cellars’ stable are each manned by a team of skilled winemakers who have access to various pockets of unique terroir,” he said. “Add this competitiveness and talent to the requirements of the discerning panel of judges, and winning any award is a huge achievement. To be Champion Winemaker…well, I am elated. I humbly accept this award on behalf of my team in the Keimoes Cellar, our viticulturist and the producers who supply us with such magnificent fruit.”

Caption:
Mark Robinson, Tops at Spar, with the winning team from Keimoes Cellar. From left: Chris Kalp, viticulturalist, Mosdop Dippenaar, manager, Mariken Jordaan, wine maker, Rianco van Rooyen, wine maker

 AWARD

CATEGORY

WINNER

 GREAT GARIEP AWARD

 BEST WHITE CULTIVAR
Colombard

 Rianco van Rooyen
Keimoes

 KATHU AWARD

 BEST WHITE BLENDED WINE
Colombard/Chenin Blanc blend

 Rianco van Rooyen
Keimoes

 AUKARABIS AWARD

 BEST RED CULTIVAR
Shiraz

 Rianco van Rooyen
Keimoes

 KALAHARI AWARD

 BEST RED BLENDED WINE
Petit Verdot / Shiraz / Cabernet Franc blend

 Mariken Jordaan
Keimoes

 GROOTDRINK AWARD

 BEST MATURED WINE
White Muscadel

 George Kruger
Kakamas

 RIEMVASMAAK AWARD

 BEST DESSERT WINE
White Muscadel

 Rianco van Rooyen
Keimoes

 KANONEILAND AWARD

 RUNNER-UP SINGLE VINEYARD WINE

 BMN Steyn

KOKERBOOM AWARD 

 BEST SINGLE VINEYARD WINE

 Dirk Malan

 *ORANGE RIVER AWARD

 RUNNER-UP CHAMPION WINEMAKER

 Mariken Jordaan
Keimoes

 *TOPS AWARD

 CHAMPION WINEMAKER
For his Keimoes Shiraz

 Rianco van Rooyen
Keimoes

 *SPAR AWARD

 GRAND CHAMPION WINE CELLAR

 Keimoes Cellar

*KHAMKIRRI AWARD 

 ITICULTURIST OF THE YEAR
Working between Grootdrink and Groblershoop

 Dirk Sutherland


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Keimoes Cellar Takes Best Winery Title at Tops’ Orange River Cellars Competition
Keimoes Cellar Takes Best Winery Title at Tops’ Orange River Cellars Competition

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