The RisCura White Hot Wine Awards took place recently, on the 2nd September 2015. The event was a great success and was presented by Winemag in collaboration with RisCura, a global financial services provider. Now in its third year, it featured South Africa’s best Bordeaux-style white blends.
Graves, in Bordeaux, is a master at producing understated, oak-aged dry whites derived from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. The Sauvignon Blanc adds freshness while the Semillon provides palate weight.
‘Sauv-Sem blends are a niche category within South Africa but there is general agreement that overall quality is exceptionally high and the RisCura White Hot Wine Awards serves to provide these wines with the attention they deserve.’ – Winemag.co.za
At this year’s competition, 30 entries were received from 21 producers. 12 wines were rated 90 or higher on the 100-point quality scale and these were recognised during an event held at Tjing Tjing Torii in Cape Town on Wednesday, 2 August 2015. All of the wines were tasted blind by a three-person panel consisting of Christian Eedes and Wine Cellar’s Roland Peens and James Pietersen.
The top wines  according to score are as follows:
Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2013 (R145- available on request) – 94 points
Constantia Glen Two 2014 (R210- available on request)- 93 points
Nitida Coronata Integration 2014 – 93 points
Oak Valley Mountain Reserve 2011– 92 points
Tokara Director’s Reserve 2014– 92 points
Vergelegen G.V.B. 2013 – 92 points
Highlands Road Sine Cera 2013– 91 points
Gabriëlskloof Magdalena 2013– 91 points
Strandveld Adamastor 2012 (R165- available on request)– 91 points
Trizanne Signature Wines Sauvignon Blanc Semillon Reserve 2014 (R165- available on request)– 91 points
Constantia Uitsig Constantia 2013– 90 points
Strandveld Adamastor 2013 (R165- available on request)- 90 points
View a list of top RisCura White Hot wines we sell .
As the best wine within the competition, the Mulderbosch Faithful Hound 2013 won a new top-of-range 225-litre Grande Reserve Château Tradition barrel from Tonnellerie Sylvain.
The Faithful Hound 2013 is 57% Semillon, 43% Sauvignon Blanc. The process behind this winning wine entailed 15 months’ ageing in 30% new French, 70% neutral oak. The combination of Semillon and Sauvignon makes for an excellent marriage of two powerful varieties.
‘After coming across a vineyard of magnificent quality Semillon in Franschhoek, we decided to work on a blended white variant to the Faithful Hound, choosing Sauvignon Blanc from Elgin as the partner variety. Both parcels of fruit were gently destemmed and crushed, then pressed to roughly 500L/ton in order to recover only the finest juice fraction for the blend.’ – Mulderbosch
This competition is a companion project of the RisCura Red Hot Wine Awards that was started this year and features blends from the red varieties of Bordeaux, namely Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot.
The post Top Bordeaux-style white blends in the spotlight at the RisCura White Hot Wine Awards appeared first on Wine Cellar Plus.
more on winecellarplus.co.za
