Wine of Origin at its best

Wednesday, 5 April, 2017
Marius Labuschagne
At the 12th annual Novare SA Terroir Wine Awards the best wines from specific terroirs will once again be judged and announced. South Africa can lay claim to many prime wine terroirs for its cultivars, and every year it is interesting to see which terroir delivered the best example of cultivar or style.

Cape Wine Master and chairman of the Demarcation Committee of the Wine & Spirits Board, Duimpie Bayly, will this year again be on the panel and will also announce the winners at the awards function. According to him 2017 can indeed produce interesting wines.

“It looks as if the climatic conditions during the seasons have produced good quality wines from most of the Cape wineland’s terroirs. The volume seems smaller in most areas, and the harvesting period was not as early as expected. The winter of 2016 was exceptionally dry, but there definitely are terroirs which had enough moisture to make good wine.

“Although wines from all vintages can be entered, it will be interesting to see which areas produced the best styles and cultivars from the extraordinary 2017 vintage, especially the white wines. South Africa probably is the most scenic wineland in the world and it also offers many terroirs for top quality wines, something to be nurtured,” says Duimpie.

Because all the wines participating have to adhere to the rule of a specific soil and climate terroir, the vintage can play a crucial part. Terroirs that had a very good vintage for specific cultivars will surely stand out. Only wines certified as a Wine of Origin (WO) from a single vineyard, estate, ward or small district not divided into more than one ward can be entered. The volume requirement is only 180 litres (20 twelve-bottle cases).

The strict WO application makes it the most exclusive wine competition in the world and the 7 judges are qualified experts who are regularly exposed to the wines from all our districts.

The National Winners of the SA Terroir Wine Awards will be honoured with certificates at the awards function. The winners in the categorised areas will be announced in the official documentation and certificates can be ordered. A self-adhesive decal (for bottle use) can be ordered for both the national winners and district/ward winners.

Novare Trophies for SA Terroir Top Single Vineyard Wine, SA Terroir Top Producer, SA Terroir Top Wine Estate and SA Terroir Top Wine Area, as well as the SA Terroir Top 5 Estate Wines, will be announced.

Among South Africa’s top terroir performers since the first competition in 2006 are Bon Courage, Nuy, Cederberg, Neethlingshof, Doolhof, Anura, Bergsig, Jordan, Wildekrans, Hermanuspietersfontein, Kaapzicht and Groot Constantia.

The sponsor, Novare Equity Partners, is a leading private equity company and the sub-advisor tasked with sourcing new development opportunities for the Novare Africa Property Funds. These are focused on retail and commercial property development in sub-Saharan Africa.

Novare SA Terroir Wine Awards 2017 program
Entries close on: Tuesday 20 June 2017
Delivery of samples: Thursday 22 June and Friday 23 June 2017
Judging: Wednesday 5, Thursday 6 and Friday 7 July 2017
Awards function: Wednesday 26 July 2017.

To contact the project coordinator, Agri Mega NPC, phone Elma Brand on tel. 083 228 5651 or e-mail elma.brand@agrimega.co.za.

For more information, contact founder Marius Labuschagne at tel. 021 975 8166, e-mail mlab@iafrica.com.

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Marius Labuschagne, founder and project leader on stage at the 2016 Novare SA Terroir Wine Awards.
Marius Labuschagne, founder and project leader on stage at the 2016 Novare SA Terroir Wine Awards.

Last year for the first time a cinsaut was selected as a National Winner. It came from Kaapzicht.
Last year for the first time a cinsaut was selected as a National Winner. It came from Kaapzicht.

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