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With the 2022 Sauvignon Blanc from De Grendel fresh out of the starting blocks, it added the coveted FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 award to its existing list of accolades during the awards ceremony held on 13 October. This is no small feat, considering 161 wines were entered for this year’s competition.

The 2022 vintage of premium De Grendel Sauvignon Blanc also received a 90-point score from the International Wine & Spirit Competition, a 91-point score by Tim Atkin’s South African Report, and 90 points from the Winemag Sauvignon Blanc Report.

Exciting highlights were reached at the stylish 32nd Veritas Awards, with the top trophy given to Tokara.

Exciting highlights were reached at the stylish 32nd Veritas Awards, featuring another record number of medals to well-known brands, as well as novices, while the top trophy for the best wine entered for Veritas was clinched by the 2019 Tokara Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon.

This glamorous event was held in a marquee tent on the expansive lawn in front of the Nederburg Manor House, where three new financial partners joined Veritas.

Diemersdal proprietor Thys Louw took his winemakers on a trip to Sancerre in France to immerse them in Sancerre and Sauvignon Blanc. Emile Joubert tagged along.

We crossed the Loire River as the rain came. A surprisingly cool rain for summer, but very welcome after the past few weeks of blistering heat Europe had had to endure. Ahead, the village of Sancerre perched on a butte, just as it had been for centuries, looking over the undulating hills, slopes and valleys where 2 000ha of vines, including the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world, pushed their verdant leaves forward to take-in the fresh wetness of the drizzle bucketing down from above.

De Grendel gleamed in Platinum, Double Gold, and Gold at the 2022 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards, showcasing excellence across a diverse range of wines.

De Grendel Op Die Berg Chardonnay 2021 was one of just 17 of the 1 509 wine entries to be awarded the highest honour of Platinum, for a score of at least 96 points.

With scores of 93 or more points, De Grendel’s flagship Koetshuis Sauvignon Blanc 2021 and customer favourite red blend Rubaiyat 2017 brought home Double Gold medals, placing in the top 14% of entries.

Domaine des Dieux etched its name in the annals of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge by winning the trophy for Best Producer for the third time in 8 years.

At the 21st Amorim Cap Classique Challenge held on Thursday 22 September at Tintswalo Atlantic in Cape Town, Domaine des Dieux Claudia Brut Cap Classique 2016 was named best wine overall out of the 126 entries to this year's competition.

Domaine des Dieux, the boutique Cap Classique specialist from the Hemel-en-Aarde Ridge appellation, also won the competition's Best Producer award in 2014 and 2018.

We’re celebrating! De Grendel wines raked in a fantastic eight 90-plus scores from respected wine commentator Tim Atkin MW in his 2022 South Africa Special Report, including an outstanding 94 points for our Op Die Berg Chardonnay 2021.

Atkin, a British Master of Wine, tasted his way through more than 2,200 wines for the tenth edition of his special report, which is highly regarded in the wine industry as an authoritative and independent review of the state of South African wine.

“Against formidable odds, South Africa is making some of the greatest wines in its history,” said Atkin.

Andries Burger did not, per chance, find Pinot noir. The grape found, enchanted and overwhelmed him. The first and only cellarmaster at Paul Clüver Family Wines in Elgin, who has been at the helm for 26 vintages this year, not only pioneered Pinot noir in the cool-climate Elgin appellation but has become one of the leading voices propagating the merits of South Africa’s Pinot noir sector through his array of singularly expressive wines made from arguably the world’s most revered red grape.

“Starting out at Paul Clüver I had not been exposed to Pinot noir, although as a student and young winemaker the variety was obviously on my radar, something you’d heard about and tasted, but had no plans to immerse yourself in,” says Andries.

A wooded Shiraz from Diemersdal won the General Smuts Trophy as the overall SA Champion Young Wine of 2022.

A wooded Shiraz from Diemersdal Wine Estate in Durbanville has won the prestigious General Smuts Trophy as the overall SA Champion Young Wine of 2022, after also receiving the trophy for the best South African Shiraz (wooded) at the SA Young Wine Show.

The General Smuts Trophy was last awarded to a Shiraz 18 years ago, in 2004. It is the second time that Diemersdal Wine Estate has won the General Smuts Trophy since their success in 2013 when they won the trophy with a Sauvignon Blanc.

Every year since 2008 the Mullineuxs have made a vintage Straw Wine. The two vineyards they chose to make this very sweet but incredibly special Straw Wine are naturally very high in acid, flavour and structure. This way, when they pick the grapes at normal ripeness and then dry them outside during the desiccation process, they are not just concentrating sugar and flavour but also increasing the intense, zesty acidity that is so critically important when making a balanced Straw Wine.

Every year since 2008 the Mullineuxs have made a vintage Straw Wine. The two vineyards they chose to make this very sweet but incredibly special Straw Wine are naturally very high in acid, flavour and structure.