As in previous years, the Trophy Wine Show has assembled the who’s who in wine judging, including Jancis Robinson MW OBE, who returns for a third time; Benjamin Roffet, France’s best sommelier of 2010 and a recipient of the Meilleur Ouvrier de France Sommellerie; and wine writer and educator Anne Krebiehl MW, whose “The Wines of Germany” won a Louis Roederer Wine Writers’ Award in 2020.  

South African wine judges include Heidi Duminy CWM; James Pietersen, CEO of the Wine Cellar Fine Wine Merchants and a former wine buyer for the Vineyard Connection; awarded winemaker Trizanne Barnard; Patson Mathonsi, the main market regional sales manager Gauteng and KZN at Spier Wine Estate and former head sommelier at DW11-13; Warwick cellarmaster JD Pretorius; past Cape Winemakers Guild protégé Gynore Hendricks, who is now the winemaker at Great Heart Wines and associate winemaker at Mullineux and Leeu Family Wines; and Cathy van Zyl MW, associate editor of Platter’s South African Wine Guide and co-author of the South African chapter in The Wine Report.

The judging panel, from left back: Cathy van Zyl, JD Pretorius, Michael Fridjhon, Benjamin Roffet, James Pietersen, and Anne Krebiehl.
Front: Gynore Hendricks, Jancis Robinson, Patson Mathonsi, and Trizanne Barnard. (Photo: Supplied)

Robinson, a celebrated author – voted the world’s most influential wine critic in various polls in the US, France and internationally in 2018, and the first person outside of the wine trade to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams – was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004, on whose cellar she advised from 2004 until 2022. 

She spent Monday tasting shiraz/syrah; Tuesday tasting chardonnay and pinot noirs, and Wednesday tasting cabernet sauvignons – and then tasting all the gold medals on Thursday from every single class, which she described as “certainly jolly good wines”. 

Jancis Robinson. (Photo: Supplied)

“Winemaking [in SA] has hugely improved. It has become much, much more sophisticated. We’re well over the era – thank the lord – where believing high alcohol is a good thing. And we’re seeing South African wines that are much more refreshing, much more refined, more sophisticated.” 

Having tasted over 70 shirazes/syrahs, Robinson said the golds each have very different attributes. 

“There was only one perhaps that was in a sort of new, fresh, successful syrah serious style rather than shiraz. But there were none at all that emulated the Barossa Valley style, which is about concentration and showing off high alcohol.”

Michael Fridjhon and Jancis Robinson. (Photo: Supplied)

Robinson said she hardly saw signs of “unresolved oak”, which was impressive, especially in the chardonnays in the show, but pinot noirs were a work in progress. 

“I think they’ll get better in the end, especially if your climate doesn’t get too much hotter.”

Pinot noir, one of the core French grapes, is known as the “heartbreak grape”: much like some people, it has a thin skin that makes it vulnerable to weather damage and rot. It prefers cool and moderate climate regions, with an average growing season temperature of 16.5°C or below. 

Krebiehl said she counted herself lucky to taste 73 sauvignon blancs and 13 sauvignon blanc-sémillon blends that were “translucent, bright and fresh white wines”. 

“Among them, we had a proper cross-section of the market – styles that were very clearly made to be a fast-moving consumer product… that is, made to a particular price point that can sell around the globe. Without exception, they were made to a high standard. In a global climate, that is a challenge and it may not be a wine that excites us (as judges) but there were no faulty wines. 

“The popularity of sauvignon blanc means people often forget how great it can be.”

Niche varieties might be more difficult to market, but in a changing climate there are great varieties from the Mediterranean that have the future “written across them”. 

“This world is diverse. We should start talking about diverse varieties of grapes that have a lot to contribute,” she said.

Merlot was “challenging”, Krebiehl acknowledged, as they were too high in alcohol, but they found some beautiful wine, while pinotage was hard work: after much discussion, they found “beautiful, spicy and translucent pinotage”.

An effervescent person with a passion for bubbles, Duminy, the principal of the Cape Wine Academy and convenor of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, said there is something about Cap Classique that is “just inspiring”.

“Cap Classique is having a fantastic trajectory. Bubbly is not as simple as it seems because of all the multi-dimensional blending involved. It’s really a ‘made’ wine. If you consider what is an MCC? Even 52 years after MCC was first produced, we are so early in our trajectory. We are still learning and experimenting. We are becoming far more confident and astute about the category.”

Simonsig, the Stellenbosch cellar that pioneered Kaapse Vonkel, produced the first bottle-fermented sparkling wine in South Africa in 1971.

On pinotage, Duminy said there is so much diversity in the class, from the old, bold styles to the newer wave styles that are instantly likeable and fruity but might lack intricacy. 

The Trophy Wine Show is South Africa’s premier wine competition, identifying the very best Cape wines, recognising the achievements of the country’s winemakers, and honouring excellence in the wine industry.

The 2023 show results will be announced on 8 June and will appear immediately on The Trophy Wine Show website. Within 24 hours, wines will be sold via Port2Port, South Africa’s biggest online fine wine marketplace.

The judging panel has been chaired by leading wine authority Michael Fridjhon since the inception of the show.

The 2023 panel was supported by a team of associate panellists who were drawn from a pool of rising SA winemaking, wine marketing and wine-writing talent who qualified via the Wine Judging Academy, run in conjunction with the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. DM