The group of panel convenors on day 1 with the executive team of the SA Young Wine Show.
From left to right: Hermias Vollgraaff; Sjaak Nelson; Anton Swarts; Morné Steyn – chairman of the technical committee; De Wet Viljoen – vice-chairman; Christo Pienaar – chairman, Albertus Louw; Pieter-Neil Rossouw; and Bertho van der Westhuizen.
The SA Young Wine Show is one of the oldest wine competitions in the world, dating back to 1833 and is now in its 194th year.
The Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Society – which established the marketing name Agri-Expo in 1996 – has over the years been actively involved with the SA Young Wine Show since 1833. This as owner of the remarkable competition which maintains its commitment as patron until this very day, asit. Agri-Expo entrusted the SA National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) since its founding in 1976 as organiser with the impressive collection of gold and silver trophies which are annually awarded to the winning wines.
The young wines of 2026 entered are competing for 17 coveted trophies in the various classes, with only one of them to be crowned as this year’s overall champion wine, thereby to receive the sought-after General Smuts Trophy which has been at stake since 1952. At the same time, the Pietman Hugo Trophy will be awarded to the winery scoring the highest total points for its entries in five categories.
As the practice has been over the years, specialist judges are appointed to all the panels to ensure that the best judging expertise is harnessed to identify the winners. The SA Young Wine Show is proud to present the opportunity to train young tasters; hence a trainee judge joins each panel of five members to be schooled for future shows.
Altogether 14 panels with 88 judges are gathered at Nederburg this week to identify this year’s best young wines.
The categories drawing the most entries this year for white wines are Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, White Blends, Other White Cultivars, and Chardonnay, while among red wines, they are Other Red Cultivars, Red Blends, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinotage, Shiraz, and Merlot.
There are 17 competing categories for SA Champion glory. For white wines they are Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Other White Cultivars, White Blends, Natural Sweet White Wine and Noble Late Harvest. Among the red wines, trophies are awarded for best Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinotage, Shiraz, Other Red Cultivars and Red Blends. The trophies in the fortified class comprise exceptional Cape Port Styles, Dessert Wines and Muscadels.
The comprehensive judging process holds good news for wine lovers in the sense that South Africa has once again yielded an excellent wine crop.
Winemakers and viticulturists alike are excited and agree that although this had been a highly variable and technically demanding harvest season, it nevertheless delivered a variety of top-quality wines. They are confident that the young wines show excellent quality across the key cultivars, with strong flavour concentration, balanced acids and sugars, and outstanding colour development in red wines. Consumers can look forward to enjoying the 2026 vintage wines when bottled and reaching the market.
In the past seven years, the Young Wine Show has been boasting major encouragement for the two main trophy winners. A partnership between the organisers and Porex SA – a prominent Paarl-based supplier of machinery and winemaking equipment to the industry – means that the two respective winners of the General Smuts and Pietman Hugo Trophies are sponsored for a trip to overseas wine countries.
The four financial partners who joined the Young Wine Show over the past number of years, are well-known suppliers to the industry, namely Anchor Oenology, Enartis, Laffort and Nexus. Their representatives are visiting the week-long judging at Nederburg.
Said Christo Pienaar, chairperson of the SANWSA, “The generous support from all our partners in this remarkable South African wine show that benefits the whole industry, is an example of their client involvement. Thereby, they ensure a bright future for “the jewel of the wine industry”, as the SA Young Wine Show is fondly known.”
The awards function will be presented by Agri-Expo on Friday 21 August 2026 at the Elsenburg Agriculural College outside Stellenbosch. The event will be preceded by a tasting of all the Gold medal winners of 2026 at the Manor house at Elsenburg.
For more information, contact the SA Young Wine office at tel 021 863 1599 or email info@veritas.co.za, or visit www.youngwineshow.co.za.
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