Lucky Trio for De Grendel at 2019 Veritas Awards

At De Grendel we are in festive spirits after our Gold and Double Gold winnings at the recent Veritas Awards, South Africa’s oldest and most prominent consumer-oriented wine competition.

Cellar master Charles Hopkins is especially pleased that the 2015 Rubaiyat red blend and 2017 De Grendel Shiraz each received a Gold medal, continuing a phenomenal year of international accolades for these wines. Our Op Die Berg Chardonnay 2018 brought home a Double Gold to add to its accolades, making us one of only 29 wineries to achieve Double Gold status in the 2019 competition.

“It’s exciting to see the results now coming in from two of South Africa’s best vintage years in recent history. The 2015 vintage of Rubaiyat is our best ever – it’s a fantastic wine and showing at its prime right now. It’s one of our customers’ most loved wines and we’re thrilled that local and international judging panels continue to recognise its outstanding quality."

“As for the 2017 Shiraz, I have been saying that this one shows great promise of developing into something really remarkable in a few years and it’s already proving itself, with Veritas Gold the latest of several top awards this year,” Hopkins said.

Rubaiyat 2015 was awarded one of only 11 Gold medals for Bordeaux-style red blends in the Awards’ most keenly-contested category, with 217 entries, while the 2017 Shiraz was one of just six to receive Gold from the 149 entries in the shiraz category.

Now in their 29th year, and run by the industry for the industry, the Veritas Awards give consumers a reliable yardstick when seeking out the best wines to enjoy. A record 1,491 entries were blind-tasted by a panel of five international and 95 South African judges in this year’s competition.

“The robust judging process and scoring to international standards makes these Veritas medals something we are very proud of,” said Hopkins.

While the 2018 Op Die Berg Chardonnay is not currently available to the public, the rest of the winning wines are available from our online shop, tasting room and restaurant, and from major retailers countrywide.