South Africa’s best kept secret KWV, bagged no less than 27 medals and a trophy at the glamorous International Wine and Spirits Competition awards in London, recently.
“Once again South African brandy has shown that you don’t have to look far to find a product that is the best by international standard,” says South African Brandy Foundation director Christelle Reade-Jahn.
The KWV 15 Year Old potstill brandy was an overall winner after it was selected as one of the top three South African brandies to receive Gold Outstanding along with Oude Meester 18 Year Old and Van Ryn’s 20 Year Old.
Gold Outstanding is denoted at the IWSC as products with “quality of the highest order”.
Gold medals – products defined as a “superior example that set the standard”- were won by Klipdrift Gold, KWV 12 Year Old and KWV 20 Year Old.
Yes, mzansi can boastingly declare that its brandies dominate the awards every year; and for the very first time both cognac and brandy won trophies at major competitions.
“The quality gap between SA and the rest of the world, with perhaps the exception of a few Spanish examples is palpable and definitely one that was picked up by the other judges,” says brandy judge- Dr Winifred Bowman.
“In the final round of the trophy judging, which took place a few weeks after the initial tasting – 8 out the 10 brandies that made the final cut were from South Africa,” says Bowman.
Well, with such accolades coming our way, it would make sense to pop in the Western Cape (KWVs brewery) for a well deserved glass or two and experience what this Proudly South African ‘hidden gem’ has to offer. That’s a good story to tell!
