Robin von Holdt reviews Double Gold awards for the National Wine Challenge (NWC) 2025
"Wine lovers will relish these 92 fine winning wines!
Double Gold Awards formally recognise wines that perform at a very high standard. These awarded wines offer a plethora of fine wine characteristics that give such pleasure. Perfect to enjoy right now and to share with family and friends. Each wine has performed at a very high level. The same top-quality panels of judges and chairs who identify all of the NWC winning wines. Judging at this level is a serious affair. Thus, the same high standards of rigorous criteria are applied to assess each potential winner. The organisation and the logistical support of the NWC is tightly managed. As a result, this ensures the highest performance levels. Best practice is consistently applied across the board for the benefit of every entered wine. Positive Gold Medal outcomes are based upon and reflect meaningful and accurate assessments.
For wine lovers on the lookout for awarded wines of great quality, this highly regarded category of fine wine is the perfect range. It is also a tremendously important category for producers. World-wide research confirms the fact that when a Double Gold winner label adorns a wine bottle, price becomes less relevant. It offers an unequivocal guarantee of quality. This year there was again a narrow margin between achieving Double Gold status and achieving Top 100 status. Several Double Gold winning wines are really very close to the quality of those achieving Top 100 status. Which in a nutshell, confirms the pedigree of this final set of awarded wines.
Complexity and balanced offering delicious flavours and enjoyment right now. This is what is in store for lucky buyers. A number of these awarded wines can benefit from medium term cellaring. Double Gold winning wines typically reflect regional character, varietal typicity and many of them show a definitive sense of place.
The judge’s view todays winning Double Gold wines as fine examples of their cultivar or their blend category. Each winning bottle demonstrates the respect offered by the Vineyard to the fine fruit throughout the wine-making process. This ensures that you end up with positive memories after enjoying each and every bottle. The fine results now speak for themselves.
This category was once again a realistically small percentage of all the fine wine entries received. Considerably less than last year. Just 92 wines gained the prestigious Double Gold Award in the 2025 NWC. The allocation of final scores for all the winning wines is a result of rigorous tasting, assessment and debate. The judges were firm yet fair in their assessment. Re-tasting is common practice to ensure correct outcomes. When compared to international competition guidelines these results are absolutely appropriate and generally demonstrate a conservative approach.
We now offer our sincere congratulations to the winemakers, cellar teams and vineyard helpers involved. Every contribution made during these processes helped the winning wine entry to crack that all important nod from judges. These tremendous Double Gold Awards are a truly significant commendation. Well done on this praiseworthy achievement. It is something to be justifiably proud about. Time now to celebrate!
We also share at the end of this press release, judges’ own comments and thoughts on the actual wine flights tasted.”
Significant Double Gold Award winners include the following wineries
- Van Loveren Family Vineyards (12)
- Nicholson Smith Agencies (7)
- De Wet Cellar (5)
- Alvi's Drift Private Cellar (4)
- Villiersdorp Winery (4)
- Holden Manz (4)
- Groot Constantia (4)
- Brandvlei Cellar (3)
- Edgebaston (3)
- Fairview Wines (3)
- Nuy Winery (3)
2 wins each: Allee Bleue Wines, Babylonstoren, Boplaas Landgoed, Eagle's Cliff, Graham Beck, Jakkalsvlei Private Cellar, Klein Amoskuil, Koelenhof Winery, La Motte, Paul Cluver Wines, Ridgeback Wines, Rietvallei Wine Estate & The Spice Route Wine Company
Winners share their comments
Alvi's Drift Private Cellar
Riaan Marais, Cellarmaster: "Receiving Double Gold is a proud moment for our cellar team. Every award is the result of countless decisions made with precision - in the vineyard, in the winery, and in the barrel. These medals are more than recognition; they reflect the heart and hard work of everyone at Alvi’s Drift committed to making wines of integrity, structure, and soul."
Almenkerk Wines
Joris van Almenkerk, Cellar Master: "Double Gold for our 2023 Chardonnay! This is the culmination of 20 years of vine age & meticulous sustainable viticulture, capturing cool‑climate citrus, paired with well-judged oak. Huge congratulations to the entire Almenkerk team.”
Bon Courage
Philip Viljoen, Winemaker: Inkara Shiraz 2023. Carefully selected grapes that comes from 1 specific vineyard on the farm. Only receiving about 5 tons/hectare. Grapes were picked at cold temperatures at optimum ripeness, cold macerated for 3 days before inoculation with a specific yeast that enhances the primary characters of the cultivar. The wine was regularly pump over on a daily basis. Spent about 12 days on the skins before the wine was racked. From there it goes through malic in barrels. The barrels is a mixture of French and American oak and only 15% of the wine were matured in new barrels and the rest in second and third fill barrels. The wine was barrel matured for about 18 months.
Daneel Jacobs, Winemaker: "We’re incredibly proud that our wines - especially our Sauvignon Blanc Brut - which have been awarded Double Gold at the NWC. It’s a special moment and a true reward for the dedication and hard work in the cellar."
De Krans
Christoff de Wet, Winemaker: "Last but not least, Double Gold the Tritonia Verdelho 2023! The dedication of our cellar team and the consistency of vineyard practices definitely reflects in the wine."
De Wet Cellar
Tertius Jonck, Winemaker: "Winning multiple Double Gold awards is a meaningful recognition of the harmony between our land and our team’s commitment. Each bottle reflects the character of our terroir, and I’m proud to see that dedication celebrated across so many of our wines."
Groot Constantia
Daniel Keulder, winemaker: "This recognition across our range is a testament to the skill of our team and the consistency of our vineyards. It’s a proud moment for Groot Constantia."
Klein Amoskuil & Spice Route
Charl du Plessis, Winemaker for Klein Amoskuil and Spice Route: Die Nagmuis Organic Bush Vine Syrah 2023, “Always a bit wild around the edges, this Syrah has found its stride. Vibrant, spicy, and balanced - a wine that stays true to its roots. We’re proud to see it acknowledged.”
The Amos Block Sauvignon Blanc 2023, “From South Africa’s oldest Sauvignon Blanc vineyard. Still vigorous, still giving us fruit with energy and poise. We’re proud of how this old block keeps showing up, year after year.”
Tarragon Chenin Blanc 2024, “Chenin Blanc is South Africa’s great white grape - and this wine shows why. Ripe, sun-kissed fruit, a touch of texture, and a bright finish. Sunshine in a glass, and a proud moment for us.”
Chakalaka 2022, “This Mediterranean-meets-Swartland blend has always stood out - bold, spicy, and full of character. Chakalaka remains a cornerstone of our range, and we’re proud to see it recognised once again.”
Koelenhof Wines
Nicholas Husselman, Head Winemaker: "Cheers to our incredible team! We are honoured to receive two double gold awards for our wines. This achievement recognizes our teams hard work and dedication to excellence."
La Motte
Edmund Terblanche, La Motte Cellarmaster: “Named after SA Master, JH Pierneef, La Motte’s acclaimed Pierneef duo, the Atelier Syrah blend and cool climate Sauvignon Blanc showcase the unique quality of each vintage with an artistic interpretation. We are delighted with the double gold performance of the current vintages in the National Wine Challenge!”
Leipzig Winery
Vian Bester, Winery Manager: "The Leipzig Master Blend 2019 continues the great success story we’ve had with our Cape Blend not only in this competition but across wine shows. We are grateful to be able to put our passion in a bottle and share it with the public.
Nuy Winery
Koffiepit Pinotage 2024
A fan favourite for good reason - Inspiration Koffiepit 2024 is all mocha magic on the nose with juicy berries on the palate. Light, easygoing, and perfect year-round.
Winemaker’s tip: Chill for two hours before serving to unlock those rich, toasty aromas. – Paul Burger, Senior Wine Maker
White Muscadel 2023
Light gold in the glass, with a flirty nose of litchi, citrus, and mint humbugs. Juicy litchi and pineapple dance on the palate, kissed by vibrant acidity. A crisp, lingering finish leaves you wanting just one more sip. – Christo Basson, Cellar Master
Mastery Chardonnay 2024
Pale straw in the glass with a teasing nose of smoky intrigue, ripe stone fruit, and a whisper of wildness. Zesty acidity carries juicy peach and citrus, finishing with a bittersweet kiss of orange marmalade. Long, lively, and full of character. – Christo Basson, Cellar Master
Oak Valley
Jacques du Plessis, Winemaker: "We are so grateful that our Groenlandberg Chardonnay has again been recognized for its consistent quality. A sure sign that it thrives in Elgin!"
Paul Wallace Wines
Bobby Wallace, Winemaker: "I am delighted that the elegance and refinement of the Paul Wallace Reflection Chardonnay has been awarded a Double Gold in the Top 100 SA Wines/National Wine Challenge competition. I am of the belief that this competition is able to distinguish and understand the regionality of the wines submitted, making us indeed proud of this accolade."
Rietvallei Wines
Kobus Burger, Ceo & Winemaker: "Also thank you National Wine Challenge for awarding Double Gold to our Rietvallei Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 and Calcrete 2024. We are proud to see our commitment to quality and craftsmanship recognised with this esteemed honour."
Van Loveren Family Wines
Chris Crafford, Senior Winemaker: "Each of these Double Gold wines tells a story — of soil, climate, and the work we put in, vintage after vintage. It’s rewarding to see how we can bring together multiple building blocks, each contributing to more layered and expressive wines.
The National Wine Challenge has always set the benchmark for excellence in our industry, and having our Van Loveren, Retief, and Christiena wine ranges recognised with these accolades reinforces that our focus on quality grapes and vineyard techniques is paying off.”
Brief comments below from various of the judges including Ginette de Fleuriott CWM, JD Pretorius, Le Roi van de Vyver & Jeanne – Marie de Villiers
Chardonnay: Chardonnay is always a classic and enjoyable flight. Fresh and clean wines, with well managed oak influence. Good concentration & ripeness. 2024 seems to be showing well & one to keep an eye on.
Chenin Blanc comment: A strong showing of very interesting examples across a wide range of styles. Oak is well managed. Some beautiful & natural examples.
Pinotage comment: A couple of bright shiny stars: Lovely brambly fruit, charcuterie, not too smoky. Supple tannins and good palate weight & length. Not many coffee oak or obvious use of staves. Understandable consumer appeal on most. Good line-up!
Merlot comment: Interesting spread of styles. Good concentration and richness across. Some wines with a herbal edge but generally strong & high quality.
Shiraz comment: A big class, with a lot of wines tasting similar. Still, lots of really big wines with lots of oak, could do with a little less oak. Good weight & tannin management.
Natural Sweet comment: All have merit. Typicity & delightfully elegant. Showy concentration and yummy salted caramel notes.
Port comment: Super high quality, especially the tawny styled and vintaged ports. The vintage reserves need some time to show their best but show great promise.
MCC & Sparkling comment: Sparklings - very pleasant and appealing, good freshness and balance – consumer appeal! MCC’s – a range, some excellent – fuller bodied, Rose’ mostly too heavy & lacking finesse but overall pleasing flight!
Cabernet Sauvignon comment: Strong class as always! From classically styled to more modern and fruit driven wines. Classically styled wines stood out and scored better.
Bordeaux Blend Red comment: Great quality overall – good colour and fruit concentration with wines showing brightness and luminosity in addition to dark fruit and powdery tannins, structure and length. Only one with too much oak and one or two overly extracted. Very nice flight!
Fortified comment: Always a delight to taste these, top quality! Muscadel continue to offer precision, beautiful ripe fruit, luminosity, concentration & brightness. One with roasted hazelnuts, structure and length - deliciously oaked.
Cape Blends comment: Good flight, although varied. The best showed opulent, dark wild brambly fruit with structure, yet some freshness, rather than too smoky and extracted. One bomb of big oak, glossy, showy and good for consumer appeal but lacking elegance and freshness.
Other White Cultivars comment: Diverse cultivars & styles. Good freshness! Semillon the standout cultivar of the flight!
Sauvignon Blanc comment: Average to good flight. Sadly, a lot of sameness (coastal wines with a combo of pyratines and estery notes). Missed wines with texture and depth. More green, pyratine notes still coming through but accompanied by more RS or ripe fruit combination.
Other White Blends comment: The Sauvignon - Semillon class shows it style yet again. Interesting blends with Chenin Blanc show great promise.
Other Red Cultivars comment: Always fun to see the spectrum of entries. Light Cinsult to powerful Tannat. Cabernet Franc the strongest class with real interest from some lesser planted varieties.
Rosé comment: A small selection but varying styles and a stand out example with finesse and freshness.
Other Red Blends comment: Mixed bag of blends but most impressive. The cab-lead and the Portuguese blends were particularly pleasing. Beautiful fruit and structure without any dominant alcohols or over-use of oak.
Pinot Noir comment: Pleasing category! Fruit character & freshness with one or two with added savoury and more depth. One a bit stemmy but majority on the lighter more elegant style.
Red Rhone Blends comment: Some promise in this flight. Wines showing a little over ripe character and could benefit from fresher components. Some oak management could be less. Strong class overall.
For a full list of all of the fabulous Double Gold winning wines, please click HERE or contact accounts@buybetterwine.com