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Top Billing attends the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year Awards
Top Billing attends the Diners Club Winemaker of the year Awards
If you’re making wine, there’s one particular honour that will sit at the top of your list. And as far as we’re concerned, the ceremony for this most prestigious award is also an event we’d never want miss!
South African winds are revered world wide, and our reds, whites and cap Classique sparkling wines have a broad impact beyond the dinner table as they create jobs and promote tourism.
Because our country exports so much of its wine, these awards recognise how important the industry is. Since any winemaker can enter the awards, at no cost, new talent is constantly being discovered!
The first of the evening's two big winners grew up in George – without a vineyard in sight - but once he began studying this science, Rudger van Wyk learned fast. According to the award winner, the title is one that he has worked hard over the last few years, and all that work has produced some exquisite red wine.
Rudger’s approach is to hand sort the grapes, use manual basket pressing, and to bottle without filtration or any clearing additives. His goal is to keep the winemkaing principles as minimal as possible, and to let mother nature take over.
The top award of the evening, Winemaker of the Year, went to Clayton Reabow, whose upbringing in King William’s Town, Eastern Cape was also far removed from where he has made his name.
According to Clayton, the award was part of an 18 year journey that included winning the Young Winemaker title ten years ago.
Clayton is the first to win both the Junior and Senior categories and he’s done it with the same Chardonnay wine - separated by a decade of different vintages.
After the party, the winners get to travel and network in the United States – growing the name of South African wines in the world’s biggest market.
