Lambert, general manager of the Franschhoek Boutique Hotel, has developed his online publication with a hospitality-driven travel website featuring items on lifestyle, travel and food & beverage.
Entrants were required to share their insights on strong brands in the South African wine industry which have strengthened Brand SA in recent years.
Referring to Brand SA, Lambert wrote, “This is where the significance lies, making big business by using big brands creating a culture of curated experiences, education and with social media in hand spreading the word and value of our wines and hospitality offerings.”
The participants also had to submit a more informal, conversational blog entry. Here too, he impressed with his views on howto get the most out of a mere 24 hours in the Winelands. Under the heading “The best way to spend a fruitful day in the Winelands – my suggestions for tourists about planning such a day,” he presented a compact checklist to ensure you make the most of your excursion.
Hereby Lambert won himself R15 000 in prize-money. The runner-up, Catea Sinclair from Hermanus –a business owner, entrepreneur in wine-related fields, and runner-up two years ago in the competition, collected R7 500.
Winner, Llewellyn Lambert and runner-up, Catea Sinclair
The judging panel, comprising the seasoned South African wine journalists David Biggs, Cassie du Plessis, Dave Hughes, Danie Keet, Neil Pendock and Samarie Smith, were unanimous in their praise for the overall winner Llewellyn Lambert’s “enthusiastic and positive approach, easy reading, relevant facts, clear and concise insights”.
They described this year’s general standard of writing as clearly based on good research and knowledge, well-reasoned and flowing from enthusiasm for the industry. In fact, overall the best entries yet in this competition.
The young wine writers competition got a significant boost this year with the announcement of two new partners for the future.
The new media partner is WineLand Media, whose editor, Wanda Augustyn, announced at the prize-giving that they would be the first publication to publish the two top-rated articles. Moreover, the winner and runner-up will be commissioned by WineLand to write articles for the media house’s various platforms during 2019.
A huge opportunity for the winner was also announced at the ceremony. Higgo Jacobs, chairperson of the South African Sommelier Association, has offered article winner Llewellyn Lambert their only media seat to the World's Best Sommelier Competition,in Antwerp, Belgium, from 10 - 15 March 2019. The South African candidate for the world contest is Jo Wessels, who was the runner-up at the Veritas Young Wine Writer Competition last year.
The Sommeliers' Competition, presented by ASI (Association de la Sommellerie Internationale) is staged every three years, since its inception in 1969.
These announcements were made at the prize-giving presented by the South African National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) – custodians of this competition and presenters of the SA Young Wine Show and Veritas Awards – at the Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch today (Wednesday 5 December).
SANWSA chairperson Christo Pienaar said at the event that he was highly impressed by the standards of the entries and that it bodes well for the industry to have such a good response from young wine writers that can spread the positive message of South African wine industry.