We achieved excellent results at this year’s Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show, South Africa’s premier wine competition. The Mentors Semillon 2009 scooped a gold medal as well as the trophy for best Semillon overall! We asked winemaker Johan Fourie to comment on the achievement:

“Our cellar philosophy is to be innovative, fresh and bold enough to experiment. We’re also always looking for better vineyard sites and wine styles, all of this with the aim to produce the best wines possible. 2008 was our first go at using grapes from the alluvial plain where the Olifants River flows into the cold Atlantic Ocean, a unique vineyard site. The 2008 Semillon exceeded everyone’s expectations and resulted in our very first stand alone Semillon. 2009, an all round fantastic white wine season, has also produced another Semillon stunner.”

“A satisfying result for KWV at the 2010 trophy wine show is that both our white and red wines over a wide spectrum of varietals (blends and single varietal wines) performed well. Our success at this show wasn’t just a ‘one hit wonder’: our overall strong performance and medal acknowledgement of the other wines entered made KWV the 4th most successful winery of the show.”

KWV received the following awards:

Gold KWV The Mentors Semillon 2009
Silver KWV The Mentors Petit Verdot 2008
Silver KWV The Mentors Orchestra 2007
Silver KWV The Mentors Canvas 2008
Silver KWV Cathedral Cellar Sauvignon blanc 2009
Bronze KWV The Mentors Shiraz 2008
Bronze Cathedral Cellar Chardonnay 2008
Bronze KWV The Mentors Sauvignon blanc 2009
Bronze KWV The Mentors Viognier 2009
Bronze KWV The Mentors Sauvignon blanc/ Semillon 2009
Bronze Laborie Blanc de Blanc 2006

2009 has been a stellar year all-round for KWV Wines. The Mentors 2006 Chenin Blanc walked away with a gold award at one of the globes most prestigious competitions, the International Wine Challenge, held in the UK in May. Our 2006 Shiraz also scooped a Gold medal at the Shiraz du Monde and both the Mentors 2006 Shiraz and the Cabernet Franc 2006 each won a Gold at the Michelangelo International Awards.

Our Lifestyle and Reserve ranges have also collectively received 15 medals during the course of 2009, three of these being awarded with Gold. Johann, our senior white-winemaker is particularly excited that the 2008 Reserve white blend received a Gold at the German competition, MUNDISvini International Wine Awards, as this is a new addition to the Reserve family and a lot of hard work and effort went into producing this wine.

For the full low down on all the awards, see here, here and here.