Stellenbosch’ wines shine at 2022 Veritas

New heights for Veritas and Tokara Cabernet Sauvignon

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 Stellenbosch based 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.

Various other Stellenbosch wineries won some of the top accolades, while a number of winemakers and roleplayers in the industry plying their trade in Stellenbosch, were also recognised for lifelong achievements in the wine industry.

These included Distell, with seven Double Gold wines which include Nederburg’s five Double Gold medals as best cellar, followed by KWV, Spier, Kleine Zalze and Wellington Wines close on their heels with four Double Gold each. Distell also took the laurels in the brandy category, with five Double Gold medals including Van Ryn’s three Double Gold.

Three wineries also excelled with three Double Gold each, namely Benguela Cove, Cilmor and De Grendel, while eleven cellars each received two Double Gold.

The results were met with great anticipation when 103 Double Gold and 136 Gold awards were handed out.

The big highlight of the event, like in the past five years, was the presentation of the Duimpie Bayly Veritas Vertex Award (named after this legendary industry role player) for the overall champion wine from 1 312 entries.

The handcrafted glass trophy was handed to Tokara cellarmaster Stuart Botha and his team for their 2019 Tokara Reserve Collection Cabernet Sauvignon. It was the third time that a red wine garnered this top award since its inception.

The well-known Nederburg Cellar’s versatality was proven by the most Double Gold medals for five of its entries. They were the Philippus Wolvaart The Anchorman Chenin Blanc 2014, Nederburg Two Centuries Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 and three noble late harvest (NLH) wines, Private Bin Edelkeur 2011 and 2013, as well as The Winemasters NLH 2018. Nederburg also boasts winning three Gold.

The most Double Gold medals per category, namely 12, went to sauvignon  blanc, followed by red blends 9, and chenin blanc and Cap Classique 8 each.

The Veritas Awards this year drew 1 312 entries, which were judged by an authoritative jury of 70 local specialists during a five-day blind tasting session. The judging panels comprised three members each, as has been the case in the past two years.

Remarkable success

Wine lovers can now purchase the awarded wines through the Veritas App. The Veritas Vice-Chairman, Bennie Howard, said he was most delighted with the phenomenal success of the Vino Veritas App by CTP.

“We launched this in 2020 to enable consumers to order the awarded wines directly online for delivery to their doorstep by our partner, GetWine, and wine lovers have been pretty pleased with this service, which was further expanded last year.”

This means that the wine and brandy buying public can download the App on their smartphones or computers to immediately access the results and order any of the 239 products which won Double Gold or Gold at the 2022 Veritas Awards. Register on Android or Google with the words “VinoVeritas by CTP.”

Public wine tastings

Good news for users of the Veritas purchasing app, is that the regular wine tastings for the public presented under the Deloitte banner are to be held again. Ruwayda Redfearn, Deloitte Africa’s CEO, said,” We look forward to share the top Veritas wines with our clients, the trade and consumers at the tastings.”

The tastings will be held on 21 October in Cape Town, 25 October in Johannesburg and 10 November in Durban.

Living legends honoured

The Veritas tradition to honour industry leaders since 2009, is being continued this year. Thereby, seven leading personalities received the 2022 Living Legend Scroll of Honour for their dedication to and enthusiasm and passion for the domestic wine and brandy industries. They are Peet Engelbrecht, Michael Fridjhon, Angela Lloyd, Johann Krige, Olla Olivier, Beyers Truter and Johannes van Willing, the latter who has been involved with wine show presentation for almost 45 years.

Three cellars each won three Double Gold, namely Benguela Cove (one Gold), Cilmor (one Gold) and De Grendel (one Gold).

Eleven wineries each received two Double Gold: Steenberg Vineyards, Flagstone Wines, Simonsig Wines, Cederberg Cellar, Durbanville Hills, Welgevallen Cellar, Rainbow’s End Estate, Neethlingshof Estate, Delaire Graff Estate and Babylonstoren.

In the class for Certified Heritage Vineyard Wines, Neethlingshof Estate’s The Short Story Collection Maria NLH 2022, won a Double Gold medal in the division for vineyards older than 35 years.

BRANDY

Distell excelled in the brandy category with five Double Gold and one Gold. KWV was in second place with two Double Gold and one Gold.

DISTELL’S Double Gold were:

Richelieu International Premium Brandy

Richelieu 10 Year Old Brandy

Van Ryn’s 10 Year Old Single Potstill Brandy

Van Ryn’s 12 Year Old Single Potstill Brandy

Van Ryn’s 20 Year Old Single Potstill Brandy

The top Stellenbosch achievers were:

Best achiever class:

The Best Achiever in the class for ten wines or less was Flagstone Winery, while  Kleine Zalze Cellar was the Best Achiever for more than ten wines entered. Fortified Wines, Museum and Brandy Class medals are excluded from this calculation.

Spier – four Double Gold (five Gold):

Kleine Zalze – four Double Gold (three Gold):

WINE

Distell – Seven Double Gold (13 Gold):