Spier Shines As 'Best Performing Producer' At SA Young Wine Competition 2021

Spier Wines won two trophies, and seven gold medals at the SA Young Wine Competition held on 30 August 2021.

All the trophy winners at the 2021 SA Young Wine Show

Crowned as the ‘Best Performing Producer’, Spier took home the Pietman Hugo Trophy for being the winery scoring the highest total points for its best five wines.

The Spier wooded Chenin Blanc received the SA Champion Chenin title, and along with the Spier unwooded Chenin Blanc, these two wines won the Les Tastevins Du Cap Trophy. The Spier Weisser Riesling and Wooded Noble Late Harvest both received best in class for their respective categories.

Established in 1833, the prestigious SA Young Wine Show is the oldest wine competition in the country. It enables winemakers to showcase their best wines from the current vintage. The event is presented by the SA National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) in collaboration with Agri-Expo. This year, the almost 50 judges on 13 panels scrutinised the 1 162 entries, resulting in 45 wines achieving Class Winner status and 73 receiving Gold Medals.

Back at Spier, Managing Director Frans Smit, Cellar Master Johan Jordaan, and the whole Spier cellar team raised a toast to this latest exciting achievement.

Cellar Master Johan Jordaan left and Managing Director Frans Smit right

“I really appreciate how the show recognises and celebrates the skill and talent involved in the wines’ production. Producing wine is without a doubt a team effort, and it takes many hands. From Viticulturist Bennie Liebenberg and Grower Erhard Louw and the dedicated vineyard and cellar team, this is an award we share with everyone at Spier!” shares Johan.

Frans agrees with Johan’s sentiment, reflecting on Spier’s winemaking philosophy: “We’re all about sustainable, balanced and honest wines. It’s an honour to harness more than 300 years of Stellenbosch winemaking heritage with this outstanding cellar team and achieve our vision of crafting award-winning wines that truly express the terroir vintage after vintage.”

The chairperson of the Young Wine Show, Christo Pienaar, said that the quality of the young wines judged had overall been of a very good standard. This means Spier wine drinkers can look forward to many excellent wines from the upcoming 2021 vintage year.