KWV’s Laborie Wines has been crowned Cap Classique champion at South Africa’s pre-eminent wine competition – the Trophy Wine Show by Investec – for an unprecedented second time. Hosted in Stellenbosch this week, the esteemed event saw many of the industry’s best producers gather for the announcement of medal and trophy winners.
Claiming the title of Sowetan Cap Classique of the Year, with an impressive 97/100 points, was the Laborie Blanc de Blancs 2019. It follows the same title having been awarded to the wine’s 2017 vintage in 2023.
“The Trophy Wine Show is one of the most respected and challenging competitions locally and internationally,” says Laborie winemaker Kobus van der Merwe. “The standard is exceptionally high, making any award a sign of exceptional quality. Winning the trophy twice not only makes us proud, but serves to highlight the quality, diversity, consistency and potential inherent across the Laborie range.”
Making the award even more remarkable, however, is the standard of competition driving the wider Cap Classique category on a global scale these days. Propelled by increasing international awareness of the quality of locally made bubbly, Cap Classique is South Africa’s fastest growing wine segment. This fact makes every competition a hotly contested event, especially at the highest levels such as at the Trophy Wine Show.
Crafted at the celebrated Paarl winery, where wine has been made for over 100 years, the Laborie Blanc de Blancs 2019 was aged for five years on the lees, after second fermentation. The result was a wine with complexity balanced perfectly with bright freshness.
“Harmony is the characteristic that truly set the wine apart,” says Trophy Wine Show founder and chairman, Michael Fridjhon. “What great use of time on lees and dosage to remain bright and provocative with curves in just the right places for a beautifully balanced wine from start to finish. [UK judge] Tamlyn Currin described it as a sailing boat carried by waves of autolysis yet with purity and restraint.
“There’s no doubt that the time on lees – 60 months – paid off. The trend towards lower and lower dosages also presented some scrawny wines but as Goldilocks said – this one, at around 6g/l, was just right!”
The Trophy Wine Show, now in its 24th iteration, generates more sales than any other competition or wine guide. As such, it is the industry’s leading platform for celebrating the excellence of South Africa’s premium wines. KWV’s Laborie Blanc de Blancs can be bought online at www.KWV.co.za, or at selected retailers nationwide.
This year, 650 wines were judged with just 40 winning gold and 23 trophies being awarded.
Judges included some of South Africa’s leading palates, several associate judges as well as international panellists, Tom Carson of Australia, Tamlyn Currin of the UK and Michel Bettane from France.
