CAPE BRANDIES HIT THE SPIRITS WORLD FOR SIX AT CONCOURS MONDIAL DE BRUXELLES COMPETITION
Premium brandies from South Africa, acknowledged as among the world's finest, continue to up their game in the international show arena, winning a show-stopping six gold medals at the annual Concours Mondial de Bruxelles wine and spirit competition, held in Luxembourg this year.
But especially thrilling was that the prestigious Médaille d'Or award went, not only to consistently world-acclaimed brandies (KWV's Laborie Alambic and Distell's Oude Meester Demant and Van Ryn's 15 Year Old Fine Cask Reserve, Distell's Klipdrift Gold and Oude Meester 12 Year Old Reserve, but also to a newcomer on the market - the LadiSmith 8 Year Vintage Pot Still from small yet spunky Southern Cape Vineyards.
Both big-time stalwart and exciting niche producers proved their mettle in the silver medal stakes, with KWV's 20 Year Old Potstill and Southern Cape Vineyards' Barry & Nephews Muscat Cape Pot Still brandies winning the Médaille d'Argent.
Says director of the South African Brandy Foundation (SABF) Christelle Reade- Jahn: 'These results, notably the performances of regular winner Van Ryn's 15 Year Old Fine Cask Reserve and the Laborie Alambic, awarded the Best Worldwide Brandy trophy at last year's equally prestigious International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) in London, show the consistency of quality among South African brandies. At the same time, the success of the newcomers shows the depth of quality among our producers and products.'
Comparing the 2011 results with those of 2010 proves her point about consistency. The same number of medals (eight) was won this year. But evidence of South African brandies' increasing dominance of this category in world competitions comes in the form of this year's haul of no fewer than six gold medals compared with two in 2010. In 2009, SA's seven-medal success included three golds.
As former distiller and one of South Africa's veteran international wine and spirits judges Dave Hughes, a regular panellist at the three-day Concours Mondial de Bruxelles tasting, has pointed out: 'To achieve gold - and silver - here, your product has to be pretty exceptional!'
The Concours Mondial de Bruxelles has become acknowledged as one of the world's most credible and prestigious wine and spirits quality evaluations. Introduced in 1994, it was first held in Brugge, Belgium. As participation by the world's leading wine and spirits producing regions grew, its international reach and relevance was affirmed in 2006 when the decision was taken to host each year's tasting in a different European wine centre, starting with Lisbon, Portugal. Maastricht, Bordeaux, Valencia, Palermo and now Luxembourg followed.
The world's leading wine and distilled spirits brands from more than 40 countries are submitted. They are tasted blind according to a standard set of evaluation criteria in line with the strict style and quality assessment guidelines sanctioned by the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV), the widely recognised Paris-based international wine and spirits industry body tasked with the scientific, technological, commercial, legal and social co-ordination of the world's wine production.
Each product is allotted a mark out of a hundred and top scorers are awarded medals: grand gold (for a score of 92,5 to 100 per cent), gold (for a score of 87 to 92,4%) and silver (for a score of 84 to 86,9 per cent).
Judging of the world's finest wines and spirits at the IWSC in London (at which the Best Worldwide Brandy trophy is awarded) is currently under way and the results are being awaited with great excitement. As SABF's Reade-Jahn says: 'There has recently been a steady increase in the willingness of consumers to spend more on premium products, which augurs well for the local industry.' And with Cape brandies' consistently top performance at these international quality assessments, brandy lovers can be assured that they're getting extraordinary value for their money!
