Each year, the International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) takes a panel of tasters to wine regions around the world, collaborating with local experts to judge wines ‘in situ’. These Global Judging events allow producers from the selected region to benefit from the expertise and influence of the IWSC without having to transport wines to the UK.
This year, the IWSC returned to South Africa for the fourth time to meet at Diamant Estate in Paarl, where the panel of on-trade and off-trade judges comprising leading wine buyers, sommeliers, and communicators, led by experienced Wine Judging Committee member Victoria Mason MW, tasted their way through approximately 600 South African wines. The group had the opportunity to meet local winemakers and experience the Cape Winelands first-hand.
Older vintages welcome
Dr Winnie Bowman CWM, a veteran judge with the IWSC, highlights that IWSC judging is a collaborative effort and scores are discussed to arrive at a consensus, rather than a numerical average. This allows international judges to benefit from the knowledge of local tasters and vice versa. “There’s a discussion after each flight, and another judge also scores the wine, so nothing can fall through the cracks. It’s a very thorough process,” she says.
The rigorous tasting lends credibility to the awards and confidence in the results. “Doing well in a competition that you know provides a good benchmark and that the wines have been put through their paces, gives producers something they can be proud of and which can be a genuine marketing tool.”
Winnie was impressed with Chenin and Chardonnay this year, but was also pleased to see older vintages performing well. “Producers can enter wines that they’ve held back or come from their library stock, to benchmark them,” she says.
Surprises aren’t limited to old or premium wines. Sometimes a wine of R80 can perform better than expected at its price point, since the competition gives producers an opportunity to benchmark their wines against peers from the same area.
Dr Winnie Bowman CWM
Local flavour
The IWSC awards are especially helpful in retail markets, where shelves are stacked with competitive wines and a sticker is often the only cue consumers have to go on. Zara Cassidy, wine buyer at Majestic Wine, says South Africa represents excellent value through the ageability, concentration and flavour of its wines.
This was evident in the Pinotage, a category that’s still undervalued in the UK, she says, as well as the dessert wines. “We had some white wines that were really well done, with lovely textural styles, fleshiness and well-integrated oak. This was also a theme in the reds, where there’s less reliance on oak to provide character. It’s really refreshing to see the fruit and terroir do the talking.”
Getting liquid on lips is especially important in the UK, she says. “Customers have to engage with the category and see the breadth of style that’s available, from the fresh zesty styles to more natural and experimental wines.”
Her advice to producers is to leverage this personality and individuality. “There’s no silver bullet, but stick to your roots and don’t second-guess yourself. Customers buy with their eyes, and expressing personality and letting that shine through in the wines is key when competing with international varieties.”
Zara Cassidy, Buyer for Majestic Wines.
Varietal innovation
Matteo Montone MS, group wine director at Maison Estelle Group and Gleneagles, declares himself a fan of South Africa’s Rhône varietals, especially Grenache and Cinsault, which he says he regularly enjoys at home back in the UK. “I also like what the country has done with Sauvignon Blanc in a short time, and the different sites, aspects, climates, and soil types have me intrigued,” he says.
He’s excited by a new wave of winemakers who are experimenting with different styles. “My impressions were only confirmed by the excellent Syrah I tasted from Agulhas, Swartland, Stellenbosch and Constantia,” he says. “The wines aren’t overly extracted, and the fruit and varietal character are well expressed across the different sites. It was a pleasure to see the quality of entries was so high.”
Matteo believes South African wines are well positioned in the UK market and represent excellent value. “There’s definitely potential for greater market share,” he says. “Sommeliers are already aware of the quality, but end consumers are not there yet and getting a medal can help boost their confidence in the product.”
He says South Africa’s producers should keep up their focus on the vineyard. “At the producers we visited during the week, everybody was saying how they’re working to understand their plots and identify the best parts,” he says. “This precision viticulture makes a difference. We’re already seeing the results.”
Matteo Montone MS
Cap Classique shines
British journalist and broadcast veteran David Kermode was in South Africa three years ago, when the IWSC began doing the Global Judging events in their current format. He says the scale of these events and the volume of wines being tasted are especially valuable for countries such as South Africa. “South Africa does a brilliant job catering across price points, from the top wines to the everyday wines, and the market needs those wines; people’s wallets need those wines,” he says. “Assessing the wines is about pulling out the ones that really deliver bang for your buck.”
It’s about more than just the value proposition, though, and the competition has uncovered exceptional examples of Syrah and Chenin, especially from old vines. “There’s so much to love in the fine wine context,” he adds. “You’re just very well placed in this country to overdeliver, and that’s what I’ve been finding for years.”
David was instrumental in arguing for a day dedicated to tasting only Cap Classique, and the panel tasted more than 60 Cap Classique across a variety of styles on their last day. “If you really want to benchmark wines against each other you have to taste them on the same day,” he says. “We had a very high calibre of entries and awarded four gold medals, which is a high percentage of the entries – higher than the average.”
The time wine must have spent on the lees to be labelled as a Cap Classique was adjusted in 2021 from nine to a minimum of 12 months, and it’s made a difference. “There’s much more complexity and interest,” Winnie says. “I was overjoyed to notice how much the quality and character has improved. These wines don’t have to stand back to any others.”
“South Africans have woken up to the quality, and the world is waking up to traditional methods styles from different countries, and South Africa is right up there,” David adds. “It offers incredible quality of traditional method sparkling wine, and they pop up in Tasmania, New Zealand, Napa, and England. The quality for the price is absolutely incredible, and we can really make some noise about this.”
Opportunity beckons
Having international tasters in South Africa tasting South African wines alongside South African experts adds crucial context to the tastings, which benefits the tasters as well as the entries. “We taste styles in London from everywhere and we judge stars from everywhere all the time, and combining that international benchmarking with local expertise is a winning formula,” David says.
“Bringing those different disciplines together is quite powerful. There’s plenty of evidence that an international competition makes a difference and the sticker makes a difference. I’m very of it.”
