In the end, Saxenburg Private Collection Shiraz 2003 emerged the winner with 4 ½ stars! Seven other top contenders achieved 4 stars."Oak well managed", the judges noted, adding "complex nose with clean, ripe fruit balanced by pepper and spice. Palate medium bodied with black fruit matched by firm, elegant tannins. A long finish".This is a sweet victory for winemaker Nico van der Merwe who feels it is recognition of the farm's flagship varietal. Nico had this to say about his award winning Shiraz: "The experience I gained during eight years of producing wine for our sister estate, Château Capion in the south of France, and the French view on wood aging has influenced my style of winemaking and has played a part in winning this coveted award."I selected a different American Oak barrel for more spice and more delicate vanilla flavours, and a French barrel for enhanced middle palate feeling. "I reverted back to my original strategy of selecting only top quality grapes for the Private Collection wines, even though it meant cutting back on quantity. For this reason the wine is of a very fine quality and will mature and perform very well. A new style Shiraz from own-grown Saxenburg grapes! It shows that good quality is recognised, even if it is in a different style."Consistency is most important to me as Shiraz is my passion."Swiss owner Adrian Bührer said of the prestigious award: "In 1989 when we came to Saxenburg, we had the right vision and planted a significant amount of Shiraz, even though at the time it was not considered the noble varietal of South Africa; it was a wise choice."This award further endorses Saxenburg as one of the top producers of Shiraz and further endorses the accolades and credits from the media and the wine industry worldwide. "Awards like this are good not only for Saxenburg, but are a motivation to the whole team to keep the flag flying high".The wine sells at R101 a bottle ex-cellar and with 4 000 cases produced, there should be plenty to go round.The 4 ½ star rating for Saxenburg's Private Collection Shiraz 2003, follows a similar score for the 2001 vintage of this Shiraz, awarded in 2005. Adrian Bührer's cellar is one of the select few to have achieved the ultimate accolade from a WINE tasting panel, with 5 stars awarded to the Saxenburg Private Collection Cabernet Sauvignon 1994, when assessed in 1999.Described as a winemaker par excellence and the winner of many local and international awards, Nico remains true to his philosophy that "good fruits make good wines" and uses only top quality grapes for his exclusive range of wines. Nico has been the winemaker at Saxenburg for 16 years.Highly rated wines are not new to Saxenburg, but now for the first time, they are doing it with 100 percent own-grown fruit from the farm in Kuils River, outside Stellenbosch.The panel of elite judges was made up of Michael Fridjhon (Chair), Colin Frith (Picardi), Carrie Adams (Norman Goodfellows), Allan Mullins (Woolworths) and Christian Eedes (WINE).Some early comments by wine writers and connoisseurs:Jean Pierre Rossouw (Talking Food & Wine and Editor, Rossouw's Restaurants)"This latest Saxenburg Private Collection Shiraz 2003 comes in a new bottle with screen-print labels. It has lovely dark flavours and at the same time an intriguing layer of scrubby garrique - the scrubby, fynbos character that gives a Shiraz a gear beyond luscious fruit. But it's the tannic elegance that really impresses, retaining Saxenburg's position as a pre-eminent Shiraz producer".John Maythem  -  567 Cape Talk Radio"I have been a fan of Nico van der Merwe's wine for many years - and he has again produced the very best".Contact:+27 (0)21 903 6113 or e-mail: info@saxenburg.comVisit the web site on www.saxenburg.com