Tuesday, 16 November, 2004
WINE Magazine
Each year a panel of wine experts assesses South Africa's wines offering particularly good value for money below a stipulated price ceiling and recommends the best buys deserving of a Value Award. This year the price ceiling was (again) set at R40 per bottle and after six days of assessing well over 700 wines the judges found 260 worthy of inclusion in the 2005 edition of WINE magazine's Best Value Wine Guide, with 14 entries from 12 wineries earning Value Awards for scores of seven or more out of ten on the Value scale and family-run Van Loveren Wines getting the nod for Best Value Cellar Overall.
Wines assessed in the guide are star-rated out of five for quality, with Value scores determined on the basis of quality relative to the price tag on the bottle. Of this year's Value Award entries, 39 wines were rated 3 to 3½ Stars (good to very good quality), with one scored 4 Stars (excellent wine of distinction). Quality ratings of the 14 Value Award winners range from 3 Stars to 2½ and 2 Stars (above average), with prices ranging between R10.50 for a 2 Star blended white wine from Worcester to R25 for red wines including a Merlot from Wellington and a Shiraz from Robertson, both rated 3 Stars. Top performer in the Value stakes with a score of 10 out of 10 was a 2½ red blend from Rawsonville that sells for R15 a bottle.
All in all, the new Best Value Wine Guide includes assessments of 220 wines under R35 per bottle, 185 wines under R30pb, 126 under R25pb and 65 wines selling at under R20 a bottle - grouped according to red, rosé, bubbly, white, dessert (fortified and unfortified) and port, as well as by variety within each category, and all listed in order of Best Value with quality Star ratings alongside. The Value Award winners, Best Value Cellar and top-scoring wines are all profiled and illustrated by way of their labels, with the assessments followed by A-to-Z indexes of the 260 Best Value wines and 105 Best Value producers.
The 2005 Best Value Wine Guide - Wines Under R40 sells for R39.95 from all leading bookstores and selected wine agents. Copies can also be ordered online via the website www.winemag.co.za.
For more information contact WINE's managing editor, Mike Froud, at tel (021) 530-3134.