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 The first day of the 6-day gruelling competition from August 17-22, where 1665 wines including a few brandies and spirits were judged by 19 international judges, had several flights of Chenin Blanc in my panel. This figures compares to 1310 wine entries in 2010, showing a healthy growth of 33% in the last 5 years.
Chenin Blanc
They included fresh, 2-3 year olds, Reserve wine with oak treatment and different styles. When a vast majority of the wines kept on getting consistent silver, gold and even couple of gold medals, it seemed clear that the quality of Chenin Blancs had seen a massive jump compared to 5 years ago. If there were any doubts, they were demolished the next day when the quality performance of the same varietals tasted from different producers in different flights, was consistent with the previous day.
Enter MCC as top quality bubblies
Similar results were observed while judging the MCC (Methode Cap Classique) sparkling wines over 2 days during which we judged around 100 samples. It appears that the  South African producers have decided to take on Champagne region directly, with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (which does not grow very well in South Africa so far,) though previously Chenin Blanc was the king. There were a few entries with 100% Sauvignon Blanc making it an interesting niche product.
Similar observation was made in case of Shiraz and the blends with Cabernet Sauvignon. Interestingly, the signature grape of South Africa Pinotage, which on its own, has been making continuous improvement after a period of controversy about its quality and the green character. Cabernet Sauvignon was the lone exception and did not show good results in our panel.
Validation by producers
It was in subsequent discussions that my observation was generally confirmed by the local producers-even as some other panellists had made a similar observation for Sauvignon Blanc and Pinotage-the general consensus being that there was a vast improvement in quality during the last decade.
 While confirming with satisfaction Lorraine Immelman, owner and Managing Director of the competition being held for 19th time, making it a well-established competition and perhaps the only competition in South Africa with international wines as well as judges, said, 'we have several high quality producers send in the samples and even other producers send better quality from their portfolio as they know that only better quality wines will get medals'.
The Medals are primarily Silver, Gold and Double Gold besides a few Trophies in various categories. Although figures are not yet available, about 80% of wines are from South Africa, the balance being from outside. Brandies and spirits were added to the category last year. The competition is the second largest in terms of bottled wines and is only marginally behind Veritas, the biggest competition in the bottles category and also for only South African wines.
 The competition has been growing consistently since it was started by Lorraine in Johannesburg in 1997 with 146 wines only. In 2010 the number had reached 1300 after touching a record high of 1500 during the previous year. Reminiscing the initiative, Lorraine recollects, 'The Chilean Trade Commissioner in South Africa, who was also a wine connoisseur, told me in 1996 that it would be a great idea to organise a competition for South African wines where only international judges tasted them.' But why Michelangelo, I wondered!. 'Since we needed a venue and a sponsor for hotel stay, we talked to Michelangelo Hotel across my office,' says Lorraine who shifted it a few years later to Stellenbosch, the red wine capital of South Africa. 'This was done also keeping in view the request of our judges who are wine professionals and were keen to visit various wine estates,' she adds.
Thanks to her wise decision, judges were treated with visits to different wineries after a gruelling tasting over 80 wines. Thanks to the convenient  schedules I was able to visit Jordan, DeMorgenzon, Kaapzicht, Rhebokskloof, Oldenburg, Kleine Zalze wine estates during the judging where each of us ended up tasting over 500 wines in 6 days, including trophy wines.
The entries have seen a jump of 33% during the last 3 years. The organisers claim that the number of producers/ sommeliers who enter their wines in this competition is perhaps the largest, even though they are not the largest in term of numbers. For the 2015 Michelangelo just under 300 producers had entered their wine, brandy and liqueurs.
The Results will be announced in mid September and the trophies will be awarded at a Luncheon on September 18. The Results will be available on this site too as they are announced.
For earlier related articles, please visit
Michelangelo Awards see Return of an old ally
Michelangelo- International Wine Awards of South Africa Subhash Arora |