South African wines have recorded one of their most impressive international results ever, winning five of the 20 trophies awarded at London’s International Wine and Spirits Competition and making the country by far the biggest winner on the show.
The results of the competition, regarded as one of the most prestigious in the world every year, were announced on Thursday at the biennial international trade exhibition Vinexpo in Bordeaux, according to Wines of South Africa (Wosa), the wine industry’s international marketing body.
Other trophies were won by the French, with three, and the Australians, with two.
The winning South African wineries were: Vergelegen for its 2000 Vergelegen
Flagship, which took the coveted Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande
Trophy for the best blended wine on the show; Hamilton Russell for its 2001 Pinot Noir; Wamakersvallei Winery for the 2001 La Cave Cabernet Sauvignon; Boland Cellars for its 2000 Shiraz and L’Avenir for its 2000 Pinotage.
In addition, both Beyerskloof and Kanonkop have been shortlisted for the Robert Mondavi Winemaker of the Year Trophy to be announced in October at a gala event in London.
Wosa CEO Su Birch said she was confident the country’s outstanding performance would help to push up average retail prices for South African wines sold in foreign
markets. In 2002, the average retail price paid for a South African wine in the UK was 3,60 sterling, which was lower than wines from New Zealand, Australia and California.
Although currently one of the most important events on the international wine calendar, Vinexpo in Bordeaux was in danger of losing support from the world’s leading wine producing countries, warned Birch, because of poor infrastructure and service.
”Temperatures soared to about 40 degrees Celcius in an unprecedented heat wave and the Vinexpo technology proved hopelessly inadequate. With poor air conditioning, producers struggled to present their wine. Quite obviously no wine can be shown at its best in such adverse circumstances,” she noted.
Wosa as well as some of its equivalent bodies from other wine producing
countries had expressed their disappointment to the organisers. – I-Net Bridge