This comes hot on the heels of the IMBIBE Sommeliers Wine Awardsand Concours Mondial de Bruxelles where KWV was awarded seven golds, 12 silvers and two bronze medals across these two award shows. 

 

From the nine gold medals received, KWV The Mentors Range was awarded five, followed by Roodeberg with two. 

 

Johann Fourie, chief winemaker, KWV says that these global awards across most of the KWV brands are important for KWV. “KWV stands for quality and these competition awards are an outside measure that proves we are on the right path of creating quality products, with international appeal.”

 

The IWC, now in its 32nd year, is accepted as the world's finest and most meticulously judged wine competition, he explains. Every wine is judged on individual faithfulness to style, region and vintage. 

Throughout the rigorous IWC judging processes, each medal-winning wine is blind tasted on three separate occasions by at least 10 different judges.

 

Fourie says that he is proud that KWV continues to win awards in domestic and international wine competitions “Our wines are special because we have the opportunity to source fruit from the best producing areas suited to each varietal we want to work with,” explains Fourie. “We are fortunate enough to be able to experiment with new wine techniques, varietals and new terroirs, in order for us to always stay relevant, fresh and innovative.”

 

On winning two gold, two silver and two bronze in the prestigious IMBIBE Sommelier Awards, Fourie says: “This was the first year that we entered the competition and forms part of our fine wine strategy for the UK.”

 

Since it started in 2007 the Sommelier Wine Awards has become the first point of reference for the UK’s on-trade wine buyers. Wines are blind tasted by judges from all sectors of the on-trade and judges include Master Sommeliers and Masters of Wine. In 2015, over 2500 wines were entered and judging criteria included food-friendliness, versatility, typicity, personality and value for money.

 

“This is a proud moment for us as only nine gold medals were awarded to South African wines, with only KWV and Kleine Zalze winning two gold medals each,” says Fourie. “The wines entered into this competition are perfect for the British on-con segment and being a serious competition, helps to raise our profile as a major contender in this market.”

 

Held in Italy in 2015, the results of the independent global Concours Mondial de Bruxelles Awardswere released recently and KWV was awarded an impressive five gold and 10 silver awards compared to in 2014 when they won two gold and six silver.

 

“We did fantastically in this year’s competition,” says Fourie. “This is in line with our winemaking philosophy of increasing quality year on year.”  

 

Globally Popular

These latest awards follow KWV being named last month as one of Drinks International ‘World’s Top 50 Most Admired Wine Brands’ for the fourth successive year, the only South African Brand to attain this global accolade. From 2011 to date, KWV now boasts over 960 awards for its wines with 350 achieved in the past year alone. 

 

“These outstanding global achievements go a long way in amplifying our new ‘Finish Great’ global positioning, which aims to transform the KWV brand by illustrating our proud pioneering heritage,” says De Bruyn Steenkamp, Global sales & marketing director for KWV. 

 

He says that KWV wines are becoming increasingly popular around the globe. “We are exporting our brands across the globe, with our biggest markets being Sweden, Germany, Canada, Finland and South Africa,” concludes De Bruyn.

 

For more information, visit www.finishgreat.co.za. Alternatively, connect with them on Facebook and on Twitter using the hashtag #FINISHGREAT.