Groot Constantia’s 2013 Chardonnay has been awarded its 1st trophy at the recent Taj Classic Wine Trophy awards, held at the Taj Hotel in Cape Town from the 3rd to the 7th March 2014. This exciting new wine, which is so young it is yet to be labelled, shows great promise after such an auspicious introduction to the world of wine lovers. Groot Constantia’s 2011 Gouverneurs Reserve Red also received a Bacchus Trophy at the 2014 Taj Classic Wine Trophy awards.
The winning wines were selected by an experienced panel of French judges, who recognize, reward and promote elegance, balance, finesse, ageability and sense of place. The panel, under the auspices of Olivier Poels, editor and managing partner of La Revue du Vin de France, comprised: Olivier Poussier, the best sommelier in the world winner, wine consultant, writer and group sommelier of Lenôtre; Claude Gilois, well-known French wine writer, consultant and wine blogger; Philippe Dietrich, winemaker and director of Michael Petzold Wine Services; Christophe Durand, Taj Classic Wine Trophy organizer and proprietor of Dorrance Wines; Jean-Yves Muller, co-owner of Sotano and Petit Caveau restaurants; and GermainLehodey, sommelier of Mosaic restaurant.
Wines were judged in panels of three, over three rounds, and were blind tasted to select a shortlist, which was then re-tasted blind by all judges in the Grand Finale.
Before the results were revealed, a panel of South African judges selected six wines from the Bacchus Trophy winners that presented the best overall value. The awarded wines, which include Groot Constantia’s 2013 Chardonnay, will be showcased in GQ South Africa and served in the Taj Hotel Cape Town over the month of July 2014.
Groot Constantia’s wines continue to achieve outstanding results and in fact, collectively the 2013 Chardonnay, 2011 Gouverneurs Reserve Red, 2012 Chardonnay, the 2010 Grand Constance, the 2010 Gouverneurs Reserve Red, the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc and the 2010 Shiraz have scooped a total of 13 gold awards since October of 2012.
“It is thanks to our dynamic team who spend so much time and energy in the vineyards that we can lay claim to these awards. Approximately six years ago we took a new direction in the vineyards and the improvement in quality has been amazing,” says Boela Gerber, Winemaker for Groot Constantia. “It is very exciting to see our hard work and new approaches reaping the rewards and we expect to continue to see our wines doing great things.”
