Vusi Dalicuba, who has won a host of awards this season, laughs at the idea of Veni, Vidi Vici, (I came, I saw, I conquered) said by Julius Caesar after his victory at the Battle of Zela (today part of Turkey) in 47 BCE.
“Sure, I showed up,” says the 31-year-old Vergenoegd Löw winemaker, who is mentored by internationally acclaimed Abrie Beeslaar, a three-time winner of the International Wine and Spirt Competition Winemaker of the Year title. “And most certainly I saw and continue to see, as I learn from Abrie and Vergenoegd Löw MD Corius Visser, who is also a veteran Stellenbosch viticulturist. But conquer? This isn’t a battle. It’s an affirmation that as a team we’re succeeding in gladdening palates. And it doesn’t stop here. What we’re doing is a work in progress.”
Just weeks after winning a trophy and being announced as the national winner for the Stellenbosch estate’s prestige 2023 Family Collection Ottilie Malbec at this year’s SA Terroir Wine Awards, Dalicuba learned that Vergenoegd Löw’s 2023 Merlot landed a best-in-class trophy at the recent 2025 Global Fine Wine Challenge.
The by invitation-only, five-way contest involves wines from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada. Known in the industry as the Grand Prix of wine competitions, it limits entries to no more than 120 wines in total from each participating country.
“All entries submitted have already been awarded in their home countries. Consequently, this is where the best-of-best compete against each other, so every win carries enormous significance,” explains Visser proudly.
He makes the point that the most recent wins cover a spectrum of Vergenoegd Löw wines, both red and white, underscoring the benefits of the Stellenbosch estate’s total vineyard replanting project begun in 2017, with just over 50 ha now under cultivation. “Although our focus is predominantly red, every variety has been carefully matched with location, making the most of the lime-rich and ancient, marine fossil-flecked soils and the proximity to the sea, less than 5 km away.
“We call our location Stellenbosch-by-the-Sea to amplify the imprint of the cooling ocean winds. Apart from keeping our vines disease-free, the winds bring down ambient temperatures, slowing ripening to concentrate flavours while locking in acidity, giving us wines of purity, balance, structure and length.” That also explains why the estate refers to its “merroir”, literally a blend of sea (mer) and terroir.
That the vines are yielding outstanding quality fruit is borne out by accolades being garnered across a variety of competitive platforms, says Visser. The 2025 Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, recently won the trophy for the best wooded Cabernet Sauvignon at the 2025 SA Young Wine Show.
The portfolio also showed extremely well at this year’s Michelangelo International Wine and Spirits awards, taking platinum for the 2022 Maximillian, Bordeaux-style red blend; double gold for the same 2023 Malbec that excelled at the SA Terroir Wine Awards, and golds for the 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2024 Chardonnay and 2025 Sauvignon Blanc.
“I’m happy,” says Dalicuba, who is active in both the vineyards and the cellar. “It feels great when our hard work earns recognition. We take a hands-on, labour-intensive approach in the vineyards, where literally every single vine gets attention, so that by the time the grapes reach the cellar, they can cue us as to how they should be best vinified. Put it this way: the heavy lifting happens in the vineyards, so we can apply the lightest touch in the cellar.”
Dalicuba believes the estate’s regenerative farming protocols play a key role in fruit quality. “Healthy soils give us healthy vines with healthy fruit in beautiful flavour, sugar and acid balance.”
Vergenoegd Löw maintains the largest herd of Dexter cattle on any Western Cape wine farm. It also keeps sheep, a variety of poultry, including its famous Indian Runner ducks, as part of its natural fertilization and integrated pest management programmes. And it grows seasonal cover crops and insectary plants to build biodiversity, biomass, enhance soil structure and improve moisture-holding capacity.
The winning wines are available from the farm, specialist wine retailers or online at vergenoegd.co.za/collection/vergenoegd-low-collection.
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