Michelangelo takes a first bow at Cape Town’s Good Food and Wine Show: adding marketing value to our medal winners’ wines!

Monday, 6 June, 2016
Lorraine Immelman
The Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards took a step this year in its endeavour to add exposure to the awards of our medal and trophy winners. A first, hastily planned Michelangelo Pavilion was assembled in less than two weeks and seven wineries took the opportunity to show and sell their wines to the estimated 30 000 visitors to the Good Food and Wine Show in Cape Town in May.

Following meetings during the coming weeks with GFWS management, Michelangelo plans to be seen at the Johannesburg and Durban shows with bigger and better pavilions, a more defined Michelangelo identity and improved marketing opportunities for all involved!

Says Michelangelo CEO, Lorraine Immelman, “in the end it’s another way of adding marketing value to our medal winners’ wines, which has after all always been our aim with this competition.”

Feedback from the Michelangelo exhibitors was very positive, with good recommendations for future shows:

Xania van der Merwe, National Sales and Marketing Manager of Wellington Wines:

“We are extremely satisfied with the exposure we got from the Good Food & Wine Show and especially being part of the Michelangelo Pavilion.  This platform has undoubtedly put us in another light – consumers who are familiar with what the Michelangelo stands for, visited the stand for that reason.  It was also great exhibiting with smaller and less known wine farms, which emphasised the exclusivity of our wines.

“We estimate that we made contact with approximately 1000 new clients of which at least 80% had some form of product engagement!

“At the close of the show we had already confirmed a number of new orders as a result of our participation.”

Rouvier Zybrands: Klein Doolhof

“We would like to thank you again for the wonderful opportunity to be present at the Good Food and Wine Show under the Michelangelo banner.  

“The gold medal which we won in the 2015 Michelangelo proved quite significant and attracted a lot of attention:  people were impressed that there were Michelangelo winning wines at the show to taste and to buy.

“For us the show was a very good platform for the marketing of our wine and gave wonderful exposure to Klein Doolhof.  We also made important new contacts which will ensure the smooth marketing of our wines in future.”

Luan Aucamp: Winemaker at Montpellier

“As we attended the GFWS for the first time this year we did not know what to expect, but I can honestly say that it was a great show and we would love to participate in the show with Michelangelo again next year.

“There was a great atmosphere during the entire event everything was well organised. We did really well in our wine sales and are happy with our figures. Thank you for this great opportunity, Michelangelo!”


Opening for entries for the 2016 competition this week, the dynamic panel of 25 hand-picked judges will assemble again in August to judge the expected 1700+ entries.

Links below will take you to the Class list, Regulations and Entry forms