Kleine Zalze winemakers Hanri Ferreira and Carla van Wyk with Christo Pienaar, chairman of the SA Wine Show Association
At Saturday night’s event the Stellenbosch estate walked away with one Double Gold and four Gold medals, placing it among the show’s top achievers.
This year’s Veritas competition drew 1 293 entries from South Africa’s leading wine cellars, making it the most comprehensive wine show on the Cape calendar.
The headline act will surprise no one who has followed Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon through the past two decades. The Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 took a Veritas Double Gold medal, standing tall in the most fiercely contested red wine category in the country.
“Cabernet Sauvignon, and particularly Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch, is globally recognised as one of South Africa’s finest wine categories,” says RJ Botha, cellarmaster at Kleine Zalze Wines. “To be one of only seven wines to win Double Gold in the Veritas Cabernet Sauvignon category reaffirms Kleine Zalze’s status as a leader in wines made from this classic red grape which is one of Kleine Zalze’s signature grape varieties and has been part of our offering since Stellenbosch began planting Cabernet Sauvignon in the previous century.”
Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 also put in a strong showing in the recent Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report held in association with winemag.co.za, securing a Top 10 placing with a score of 94pts. The same wine from the 2021 vintage took the IWC Trophy for Best South African Cabernet Sauvignon as well as the Trophy for Best South African Red Wine on that show.
What makes the rest of the Kleine Zalze Veritas results of further interest is seeing where the Gold medals landed.
Three of the four went to wines from certified Old Vine Heritage vineyards: the Heritage Vineyards Old Vines Chenin Blanc 2026, Vineyard Selection Chenin Blanc 2026 and Heritage Vineyards Cinsault/Pinotage 2025, all Gold medallists, with the fourth Gold going to the Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2025.
“As the largest producer of Chenin Blanc made from Stellenbosch’s certified Old Vines, 35 years and older, Kleine Zalze has become a calling card for those seeking the nuances that senior vineyards bring to the flavour and textural profiles of wines made from these vineyards,” says Botha. “The Veritas Gold medals for two of these Chenin Blanc wines accentuate the fact that judges and critics share the same appreciation of their quality as our local and international consumers do. And by garnering a Gold medal, our Old Vine Cinsault/Pinotage – a wine that is a nod to traditional Cape grape varieties – Kleine Zalze furthers its reputation as a proud bearer of our country’s wonderful wine and viticulture provenance.”
Kleine Zalze’s reputation for excellence through varietal diversity is furthered with a Gold medal for the Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2025, another wine in the range that receives perennial critical acclaim when awards season comes around. Botha sees this year’s Veritas as confirmation of a broader philosophy rather than of single wines in isolation.
“Veritas has for 36 years been the major arbiter of South African wine quality,” says Botha, “and these awards underscore Kleine Zalze’s consistency in creating excellent wines from a diversity of grape varieties growing in the various terroir parcels of the Western Cape.”
“The awards recognise and honour the grape growers, the team in the cellar and the Kleine Zalze ethos of excellence to which the whole team aspires. In the current competitive wine market, awards such as these are important markers for consumers who are taking increasing guidance from competition results in their purchasing decisions. As a winemaker it gives one great satisfaction to make a wine that you and your team deem to be of top quality. To have this quality vindicated with a Veritas Double Gold or Gold is the cherry on top.”