A troika of influential Gold medals from international wine experts went the way of Orange River Cellars at this year’s Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits Awards held in Cape Town last week. Orange River Cellars’ Chenin Blanc Straw Wine 2016 won a coveted Double Gold, with the famous Red Muscadel 2016 taking the other Double.
No longer only a strong performer on the sweet wine front, Orange River Cellars’ Lyra Vega 2015 - a Shiraz-led blend – won a coveted Gold medal.
Koos Visser, marketing manager for Orange River Cellars, says the viticulture and winemaking teams at this leading Northern Cape winery centred in the vicinity of Upington, were elated at the results.
“To receive this kind of recognition at an international wine competition like Michelangelo is a huge honour and acknowledges Orange River Cellars’ commitment to focused and precise viticulture and skilled, innovative wine-making,” he says. “With our five wineries harvesting a total of some 120 000 tons of grapes a year, our operation shows that it is as committed to making quality wine as it is to offering product volume at value-for-money prices.”
While Orange River Cellars’ champion fortified Muscadel wines regularly sweeping the trophies and Gold medals, the brand is becoming known for its other ranges of wines. Of this, the Straw Wine is continuing to receive critical acclaim, as this year’s Michelangelo Double Gold shows.
Besides this year’s Michelangelo recognition, the wine has garnered a score of 91 points in the influential International Wine Review as well as being included in a list of 21 South African sweet wines making up the International Wine Review’s recommended sweet category.
International Wine Review, published in America, is a leading indicator of wine trends and quality throughout the world.
Tasting the Orange River Cellars Straw Wine, reviewers described the wine as such: “Beautiful golden amber in colour, this is a creamy smooth, beautifully balanced wine with lots of ripe sultanas and stone fruit, and just a hint of crème brûlée. Air-dried grapes are fermented and aged in used barriques. Best served well-chilled.”
Visser says the Michelangelo Gold for Orange River Cellar’s Lyra Vega 2015, a dry red wine blended from Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Pinotage, emphasised the quality proposition the Northern Cape’s red wines are capable of.
“To win a Gold for a dry red wine in a competition with over 1 600 entries and judged by experts from 22 countries truly is a great achievement for us,” says Visser. “It definitely proves that our commitment to fine dry wines is paying off, and all I can say is that there is plenty more to come from Orange River in terms of wines that can stand alongside the best that South Africa can produce.”