Our team has done us proud once again, this time at the recent 2010 London International Wine Fair where we had outstanding results in both the Decanter World Wine Awards as well as the International Wine Challenge. Bringing home the gold, was the KWV The Mentors Shiraz 2008 (Decanter) followed by a sequence of excellent Silver & Bronze achievements.

These awards are announced hot on the heels of recent achievements at the annual Concours Mondial de Bruxelles and the local Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show. Our chief wine maker Richard Rowe said, “The team is delighted with these results, which strongly support the company’s transformation programme. Over the past 12 months we have been focusing our winemaking efforts on producing wine styles which are more international in style, with greater emphasis on elegance, freshness and finesse. We welcome this endorsement of our future direction. The best, however, is yet to come!”

Awards summary:

2010 International Wine Challenge

KWV The Mentors:

Sauvignon Blanc 2009 – Bronze
Semillon 2008 – Bronze
Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon 2009 – Bronze
Chenin Blanc 2008 – Commended
Petit Verdot 2008 – Silver
Orchestra 2008 – Commended
Canvas 2008 – Bronze
Shiraz 2007 – Commended
Shiraz 2007 – Silver

2010 Decanter International Wine Awards

KWV The Mentors

Sauvignon Blanc 2009 – Bronze
Semillon 2008 – Bronze
Sauvignon Blanc / Semillon 2009 – Bronze
Chenin Blanc 2008 – Commended
Pinotage 2007 – Silver
Petit Verdot 2008 – Silver
Orchestra 2008 – Bronze
Canvas 2008 – Bronze
Shiraz 2008 – Gold

Congratulations Gordon Todan and thank you for entering our global dinner party competition! We’ll be in contact shortly to arrange for delivery of our fantastic Shane Sauvage cookbook (our favorite South African chef).

Just to recap, we’re running a global competition, 3 winning couples from around the world will be flown to South Africa to enjoy a dinner together in Paarl at KWV in November. All you need to do to enter is send us a photograph of your own dinner party, to enter click here. Each month the best picture will entry will receive a cookbook (and of course still stand a chance to win the main prize).

Gordon enjoyed the KWV Reserve Chardonnay at his wedding and spoke about, how crazy the day was, how good the drinks were (of course) and hoping it would never end!

2009 has been a stellar year all-round for KWV Wines. The Mentors 2006 Chenin Blanc walked away with a Gold award at one of the globes most prestigious competitions, the International Wine Challenge, held in the UK in May. Our 2006 Shiraz also scooped a Gold medal at the Shiraz du Monde and both the Mentors 2006 Shiraz and the Cabernet Franc 2006 each won a Gold at the Michelangelo International Awards.

Our Lifestyle and Reserve ranges have also collectively received 15 medals during the course of 2009, three of these being awarded with Gold. Johann, our senior white-winemaker is particularly excited that the 2008 Reserve white blend which received a Gold at the German competition, MUNDISvini International Wine Awards, as this is a new addition to the Reserve family and a lot of hard work and effort went into producing this wine.

For the full low down on all our awards see here, here and here.