August 30th – Top Five Trust is proud to announce the winners of the third edition of the Mosaic Top 5 Pinot Noir Wine Awards, the exciting South African wine competition focusing exclusively on Pinot Noir red wines. The awards identify five South African Pinot Noir red wines to serve as a benchmark for the development of distinctive South African Pinot Noir red wines and to illustrate the quality of South African Pinot Noir red wines to the world.
Wine lovers are being treating to an ever-expanding list of South African Pinot Noir red wines of the highest quality from producers who are building track records of consistent quality, as evidenced by this year’s long list of winners containing wines from numerous previous winning producers. Furthermore, the quality-to-price ratio of these wines are unmatched globally and offers exceptional value.
The strictly blind tasting was held early in August in Cape Town and saw 51 entries from 32 producers with wines from the 2016 to 2021 vintages inclusively. The most entries were from the Walker Bay area (26) followed by Elgin (9), Stellenbosch (5) and the balance from Franschhoek, Cape South Coast, Ceres, and Durbanville. The 2021 vintage had the largest representation with 17 wines, followed by 2020 (16), 2019 (12) and the remainder spread among older vintages.
The areas that triumphed were Elgin, with three of the top five wines from this district, with Hemel-en-Aarde and newcomer Franschhoek taking up the remaining two spots. In the 90+ category, ten wines are from the Walker Bay district, two from Elgin and one each from Ceres Plateau and the wider Cape South Coast region. The panel was most impressed by the 2020 and 2019 vintages. It was pleasing to see the consistency in the performance of previous winners, as well as the emergence of very exciting newcomers.
Judging process
The judging process adheres to strict blind tasting standards as the wines are tasted in order from oldest to the youngest. Scores are awarded according to the 100-point scale. The judging panel consists of members made up of Cape Wine Masters, experienced sommeliers, industry professionals, Masters of Wine and qualified winemakers only. One panel member is appointed as chairperson.
The judging panel for this year’s competition was:
Chairperson
Dr. Winnie Bowman, CWM, Cape Wine Master and renowned international wine judge.
Panel members
- Adi Badenhorst, Winemaker at AA Badenhorst Family Wines and Cape Winemakers Guild member.
- Achim Dörr, Winemaker and researcher at Geisenheim University, Germany.
- Fiona McDonald, Editor of Cheers Magazine and renowned international wine judge.
- Gregory Mutambe, Head sommelier at the Twelve Apostles Hotel.
Top South African Pinot Noir wines
The five best Pinot Noir wines in South Africa (in alphabetical order) are:
- Chamonix Wine Estate Reserve Pinot Noir 2020
- Die Kat se Snor Pinot Noir 2019
- Iona Vineyards Kroon Pinot Noir 2019
- Oak Valley Estate Groenlandberg Pinot Noir 2021
- Richard Kershaw Wines Clonal Selection Elgin Pinot Noir 2020
90+ Award Medals
Wines that score 90 or more points, but do not make it into the top five, are celebrated with a 90+ award. The 90+ South African Pinot Noir red wines (in alphabetical order) are:
- Bartho Eksteen Fluister Pinot Noir 2021
- Brew Cru Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021
- Creation Wines Art of Pinot Noir 2019
- Creation Wines Emily’s Pinot Noir 2021
- Creation Wines Reserve Pinot Noir 2021
- Creation Wines Pinot Noir 2021
- De Grendel Wines Op die Berg Pinot Noir 2020
- Domaine Des Dieux Josephine Pinot Noir 2020
- Elgin Vintners Ponthuis Pinot Noir 2021
- Iona Vineyards Elgin Highlands Pinot Noir 2019
- La Vierge Wines La Vierge Noir 2019
- PaardenKloof Estate Ataqua Heart Song Pinot Noir 2020
- Richard Kershaw Wines The Smuggler’s Boot Pinot Noir 2020
- Seven Springs Vineyards Pinot Noir 2019
Congratulations
Congratulations to the top five winners as well as all the wines achieving 90+ status and thank you to all of the producers for crafting Pinot Noir red wines of such high quality. Top Five Trust remains greatful to specialist financial services firm Mosaic Family Office for its ongoing support of South African Pinot Noir.
