SA wines win gold in London

Ray Smuts
SOUTH AFRICAN wines have outpaced the competition by winning no fewer than seven gold medals at the prestigious International Wine Challenge in London.
Organised by the UK journal Wine and widely regarded as one of the premier competitions in international wine circles, this is no mean achievement considering that only 30 golds were on offer.
The winners were Charles Back Wines, Jordan and Kaapzicht at Stellenbosch, Vergelegen in the Helderberg and Plaisir de Merle of Simondium.
Su Birch of Wines of South Africa says it is particualry gratifying that three of the seven gold medals went to pinotage which has carved an important niche in the international wine market, earning greater respect than ever before.
She says discretionary income is shrinking all over the world, making South African wines especially attractive on foreign markets given the further devaluation of the rand.
South Africa increased wine exports to the UK by 29% between January and June this year - the highest volume growth achieved by any wine producing country over this period - was the second largest importer to the Netherlands and increased volume sales to Canada by 20% for the year.
These latest successes follow that of Boland Cellars winemaker Altus le Roux who was voted Winemaker of the Year at the London-based International Wine and Spirit Competition earlier this year.