Haskell Pillars Syrah 2007 became the first South African wine to win the Best Red Wine category at the Tri Nations Challenge and also the first to be crowned the Champion wine since the inception of this prestigious competition, thirteen years ago.
Another feather in the South Africans’ cap is that the winemaker is a woman; till recently women are known to have had a tough time being accepted by the all-men fraternity of winemakers, not only in South Africa but other parts of the world.
Rianie Strydom, the Haskell Vineyards winemaker, received her trophies at a ceremony in Sydney on 11 September 2009. She said excitedly, "This is not only an award for Haskell Vineyards, but for South Africa. It shows that our wines have come of age. I must admit, it was a great feeling to trump the Aussies on their territory!” adding, “I am also excited, especially because the Haskell range of wines will only be released in November.”
The Tri Nations Challenge is an annual competition pitting superb wines from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa against each other. There are 13 classes, with up to 30 wines per class. The wines are assessed blind by one judge from each participating country.
South Africa is represented by Michael Fridjhon, Australia by leading wine writer Huon Hooke, and Bob Campbell, MW, is the New Zealand judge. A total of 321 wines were tasted. Trophies are awarded to the Best Red Wine of the Show, the Best White Wine of the Show and the Best Wine of the Show. Wineries cannot enter their own wines; the best wines from each country have to be selected by the panel to participate.
While New Zealand has been making strides in Pinot Noir in the red wine category, Aussies have had a stronghold on this varietal from the New World producers for years. The award may not mean that South Africa has over taken them as a quality producing nation-yet, but one can expect a stiffer competition and better price-quality ratio from them and a wider choice available to the buying countries..
The award comes as no surprise to delWine where we have been watching the quality of Merlot and Shiraz going up during the last few years. After a visit to South Africa last year where he was invited to judge for South African Airways wine selection and later at the 8th MundusVini international wine competition, Subhash Arora had observed in the 248th edition of delWine dated September 23, 2008:
‘The biggest surprise was the Merlots which are generally accepted as of mediocre quality from South Africa but of late, have been improving. I found particularly fascinating those matured in toasted oak. Shiraz was another exception-the quality is ready to take on Australia (as was also confirmed later at Mundusvini wine competition in Germany last week where sample after sample of red wine was scoring high on my jury panel. It was only after the tasting that we discovered that the flight was that of South African Shiraz).
The South African imports are making inroads into India based on the quality and good price-quality ratios though Chile and Argentina score higher in the latter. Wine Rack (Waterford, Weltevrede) in Mumbai imports exclusively the South African wines although importers like Sovereign Impex (Graham Beck), Aspri (Nederberg), Brindco (Meerlust), Mohan Bros (Fairview) and Sonarys (Springfield)are also importing with Fine Wines and More considering the imports in the near future.
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