In a very disputed competition, Benthe Legg secured the national title of 2022 Supertaster with a score of 120 points out of a potential, and virtually impossible, 200.
Legg works in the international shipping industry and was also in the top 10 of the South African Wine Tasting Championships last year. She was part of the SA Team 2021 led by Chris Groenewald.
The 2022 top tasters are:
- Benthe Legg
- Ida Elizabeth van Zyl
- Wim Braak
- James Bisset
- Johannes Rossouw
- Gareth Robertson
- Chris Groenewald
- Jono Le Feuvre
- Lutske Scholtz
- Gavin Smith
- Welma Smith
- Andrea Erwee
- Melvin Jones
Congratulations to these great tasters who took the risk to put their taste to the test. It is exciting to see some new names among our top performers mingling with former Team SA members.
If they are able to travel to France in October, these top scorers will stand the chance to join Team South Africa 2022 by participating in a time-limited identification of 10 wines. They will all receive identical packs of 10 vinitubes containing a mix of South African and international wines, in a format similar to the World Championship. This time the possible wines will not be part of a limited list, but may come from any corner of the world.
The selection for Team South Africa 2022 will take place online on Sunday 4 September, and all the contestants will have to open the vinitubes at the same time in front of their computer webcam, having ten minutes per wine to identify the cultivar for 10 points, the country of origin for 5 points, the appellation for 5 points, the producer for 3 points and the vintage for 2 points, toward a potential maximum of 25 points per wine. At the end of the 10 wines, they will submit their results to the jury and the best three scorers will make the team.
Team SA 2022 will fly to Paris on 2 October to tour France ahead of the world championship on 8 October. At this point in time only the three bests will fly to Champagne, but partnerships are still being discussed for a full team to travel.
This year wineries selected for the SAWTC were: Almenkerk, Sijnn, Mullineux, La Motte, De Trafford, Southern Right, Klein Constantia, Tesselaarsdal, Le Riche, Darling Cellars, Hamilton Russell Vineyards, Creation, Oldenburg, Holden Manz, Metzer, Villiera, Nederburg, Arniston Bay, Radford Dale, Peter Falke, Le Bonheur, Idiom, Atlas Swift, Kumusha, Aaldering, l’Avenir, and Mosi Wines.
These greats wines have be a true challenge for the candidate's palates.
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