Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spier top achiever at international wine competition

For the second year running, Spier was South Africa’s top achiever at the prestigious ConcoursMondial de Bruxelles – a leading international wine competition. The results were announced last night. A total of 7,386 wines and spirits from 49 countries competed in Luxembourg from May 6-8 before a hand-picked selection of some of the world’s foremost tasters.

Less than one percent of the entries were awarded a Grand Gold Medal, and Spierwas one of three South African wine farms to achieve this top honour for its Private Collection Shiraz 2008. It also achieved five Gold Medalsfor Spier Creative Block 3 2009, Spier Creative Block 5 2009, Spier Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, Naledi Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 and Groote KaapViognier 2010. A further five wines received Silver Medals.

A total 2,145 medals were awarded this year and preliminary results indicate that France retains its leadership position with 628 medals, followed by Spain (436 medals), Portugal (235 medals), Italy (184), Chile (136), South Africa (78) and Australia (43).

“We are delighted with our results and see this as a real accolade to the quality of our wines,” says Spier Cellar Master FransSmit. “It is so encouraging to see South African wines performing so well in general at this prestigious competition.”