Barely a month after winning a national prize at the SA Young Wine Show, Orange River Cellars’ Kakamas Cellar did it again. Kakamas Cellar, situated 100km south-west of Upington on the banks of the Orange River, this year dominated South Africa’s leading retailer-driven wine show, the Tops at Spar/Orange River Wine Competition. Kakamas, one of the five wineries in the stable of Upington-based Orange River Cellars, was announced winner of the competition’s Grand Champion Cellar Award for 2015. The award were announced on Saturday 17 October in Upington.

Top image caption: The winning team from Kakamas.
Front from left: Dave Noble (Spar SA), Bolla Louw (cellar manager), George Kruger (senior winemaker), Marko Pentz (winemaker), Ockert Vermeulen (viticulturist)
Back: Stefan Steenkamp (winemaker).

Kakamas also won the individual awards for Best White Cultivar (Chenin Blanc), Best White Blend (Chenin Blanc/Colombard), Best Red Cultivar (Shiraz), Best Red Blended Wine (Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon) and Best Classical Muscadel Wine (Red Muscadel). The award for Champion Winemaker went to Bolla Louw from Kakamas for his Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon.

This unique wine competition, now in its 14th year, celebrates the relationship between South Africa’s top wine retailer, Tops, and Orange River Cellars, the country’s largest winery which also supplies the wines for Tops’ private label, Carnival, as well as to incentivise winemakers towards improving overall wine quality.

For this annual highlight on the winemaking calendar, winemakers from Orange River Cellars’ five wineries – Upington, Groblershoop, Grootdrink, Kakamas and Keimoes – each make wines specifically for the competition.

The judging panel for 2015 comprised Tinus van Niekerk, one of South Africa’s foremost wine experts who is also consultant to Tops at Spar, international wine judges Neil Pendock and Fiona McDonald, Guy Webber from Stellenzicht, RJ Botha from Kleine Zalze Winery, Ntsiki Biyela from Stellekaya Winery in Stellenbosch and Yonder Hill cellar-master Abé Beukes.

Speaking at the awards function, Dave Noble from Tops at Spar, said the quality of Orange River Cellars’ wines and the passion, skill and commitment of the local winemakers make it an honour for Tops at Spar to have a supplier such as Orange River Cellars in its fold.

“This competition epitomises the successful relationship between a winery and supplier,” he said. “As South Africa’s leading wine retailer, Tops at Spar and our customers need product of the highest standard supplied on a consistent basis of quality and volume. In this regards, Orange River Cellars continues to deliver year-in and year-out. We would like to think that this joint wine competition, a truly one-of-its-kind, contributes not only to our working relationship but also to the quality of wines we are able to offer to the most important link in the chain, and that is the customer.”

Noble said that the time had come to bottle the winning wines from the Tops at Spar/Orange River Cellars Competition separately allowing wine-lovers to experience the excellence Orange River delivers. “You are ready, and we would like to see these unique products on our shelves.”