Blaauwklippen Reaps Gold at Michelangelo Awards

The Blaauwklippen team is in a celebratory mood after the 2019 Michelangelo International Wine & Spirits Awards, where the panel of international judges awarded two of our wines with Gold medals.

The Michelangelo Awards endeavour to provide wine consumers and producers with an independent measure of quality judged to global standards in a truly international competition, this year featuring entries from 12 countries. Blaauwklippen Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 and Malbec 2018 scored in the top 30% of the more than 2 000 entries blind-tasted by a panel of judges representing 22 countries.

Winemaker Narina Cloete is thrilled with these accolades.  Blaauwklippen is in a major phase of reviving the 337-year-old estate, and these medals reflect the elevation of the estate’s wine portfolio and philosophy to produce complex, balanced wines that express the terroir. 

The 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon (R990 per case) achieved 93 points and a place in the top 10 in the respected Winemag Prescient Cabernet Sauvignon Report earlier this year. Separate batches of Cabernet Sauvignon were matured in oak for 19 months before blending and bottling, for a wine of deliciously dark berries and chocolate, with hints of pencil shavings and cassis – velvety and savoury with uplifting freshness.

Whole-berry fermented Malbec, the winning 2018 vintage (R870 per case) was matured for 10 months in oak and is stylish and seductive, intense berry flavours supported by dark chocolate and crème caramel notes, plush textured and smooth tannins.

Both wines are available from the farm’s tasting room in Stellenbosch and online at www.blaauwklippen.com