De Grendel voted in Hong Kong as best South African wine

Soon after South Africa’s Veritas and Europe’s Les Grands Concours du monde applauded De Grendel’s wine-making prowess, the East gave this wine estate on Sir David Graaff’s historic family farm a big thumbs up. The De Grendel Shiraz 2011 won a Gold award at the 2013 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition (HKIWSC) for Best South African Wine.

‘It is with immense pride that we receive this award and see the win as a gateway into the Asian market which we view as a growth market for our wines in future. We’re humbled by the amazing accolades we have received during the past few months for our wines across the range which is  testimony of our philosophy of focus on quality and consistency from one vintage to the next.’ Says De Villiers Graaff, director of De Grendel.

Celebrating its 5th year, the HKIWSC is the first truly Asian wine competition in the world. It is judged by some of the most esteemed wine judges from China, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India – including Hong Kong based Debra Meiberg MW, competitions Director; and the Chinese food and wine expert, Simon Tam.

The awards given by this wine competition are believed to be among some of the highest honours in the industry. Judging for the Competition has two stages; first, the products are tasted blind by expert panels selected="true" from over 300 fully experienced and qualified industry judges. Then, products which receive the top medals are subject to technical analysis before results are released; this stage ensures winners receive complete validation.

Cellar master Charles Hopkins attributes the quality of the 2011 vintage* to general warmer temperature experienced during growth, greatly benefitting red grapes. In the glass this vintage shows complexity, great fruit and dominance on the spicy aromatics.

*Note: The De Grendel Shiraz 2011 is sold out.