VERITAS 2023

1 VERITAS AWARDS 2023

VERITAS AWARDS CELEBRATED IN GREAT STYLE It was an evening of glitz and glamour at the stylish 33nd Veritas Awards, featuring another record number of medals to well-known brands, as well as novices, while the Duimpie Bayly Vertex trophy for the best wine entered for Veritas was clinched by the 2019 Benguela Cove Joie de Vivre Cap Classique. It is the second time that a Cap Classique wine walks away with the Vertex Award. This glamorous dinner known as the “Oscars” of the wine industry returned to the Ballroom at the CTICC in Cape Town as guests enjoyed an evening of splendid food, award winning wines and entertainment. The established sponsors of Veritas - SA Litho and Deloitte - were again joined by KykNet’s Ontbytsake TV, Nashua and BlueNova and newcomers Dry Ice International and Porex. We gladly welcome our new partners to Veritas and appreciate their enthusiasm in joining the Veritas Awards. The Veritas tradition to honour industry leaders since 2009, was continued this year. Thereby, six leading personalities received the 2023 Living Legend Scroll of Honour for their dedication to and enthusiasm and passion for the domestic wine and brandy industries. They are Gary Baumgarten, Gert Boerssen, Johan Ehlers, Chris Roux, Jacques Roux and Johan Wiese. We are proud to announce that this year a record number of 81 Double Gold and 179 Gold awards were handed out, together with 263 Silver Outstanding, 426 Silver and 217 Bronze. The Veritas Awards drew 1 247 entries. The seven most keenly contested categories in terms of entries received were: Red Blends (170), Sauvignon Blanc (141), Cabernet Sauvignon (109), Chardonnay (105), Shiraz (102), Chenin Blanc (97) and Pinotage (83). The judging panels consisted of five members each, and we welcomed four international judges back at the judging sponsored by Dry Ice International. They were Christine Austin (UK), Jonas Röjerman MW (Sweden), Joe Wadsack (UK) and Jo Wessels (Germany). Porex announced at the Awards function that it in future will sponsor the tasting of the Double Gold wines in London as well as flying the winner of the Duimpie Bayly Vertex award to the UK. Wine lovers can continue to purchase the awarded wines through the VinoVeritas App. We launched this application in 2020 to enable consumers to order the awarded wines directly online for delivery to their doorstep by our partner, GetWine, and wine lovers have been very impressed with this service. Users of the Veritas purchasing app, can join us at the regular wine tastings for the public countrywide presented under the Deloitte banner, and taste and buy as they work their way around the room with the awesome selection of 260 Double Gold and Gold wines. We are delighted that Deloitte fulfils this important marketing exercise for Veritas with their sponsorship. These tastings will be held on 27 October in Cape Town, 1 November in Johannesburg and 9 November in Durban. All the tastings will take place at the Deloitte premises in each city. See further information at www.veritas.co.za We trust that you will enjoy the amazing selection of outstanding South African Wines awarded by Veritas either at your home or favourite restaurant.

Christo Pienaar CHAIRMAN VERITAS AWARDS