published on: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
The 2012 Decanter World Wine Awards results were officially announced yesterday at The London International Wine Fair.
With 14 119 wines tasted this is the largest entry ever for the Decanter World Wine Awards, now in its 9th year.
Full results are available on the Decanter stand at the fair and at http://www.decanter.com/dwwa/2012/.
‘The
quality of any awards is only as good as the quality of the individual
judges, DWWA chair Steven Spurrier said, announcing the results this
morning. ‘And we have the best judges in the world.’
Over 200
wine merchants, sommeliers, journalists and authors including 54 Masters
of Wine and 11 Master Sommeliers, took part in a week of judging in
April.
Although the majority of wines entered come from the
world’s great wine regions, a particular strength of the Decanter World
Wine Awards is its championing of lesser-known and smaller regions.
Out
of the 47 countries which sent wines to the Awards, UK wineries, for
example, entered 97 wines, of which 89% won a medal, of which two were
Gold, and one was a regional trophy, the UK Sparkling over £10 trophy,
which went to the Gusbourne Estate Blanc de Blancs 2007.
The only country in the world to do better than this was New Zealand, with 92% of wines entered receiving an award.
Another
smaller region that did exceptionally well is Greece. Though the
economic crisis has put it at the forefront of the news, one area in
which it has been quietly excelling for some time is with its wines,
with 72% of all wines entered this year receiving an award.
Gaia Wines swept the board with a total of three Gold Medals; Lyrarakis, Estate Argyros and Domaine Gerovassiliou also won one Gold Medal each.
A
number of other unusual winemaking countries fared particularly well
this year. Turkey saw 83% of its wines receive an award, Slovenia
achieved 77% and Croatia 63%.
Tastings director Christelle
Guibert said, ‘It’s great to see so many rarely-seen wine-producing
countries do so well at this year's DWWA, often faring
much better than more established countries and famous regions. It just
goes to show how far the quality of wine has come in countries that,
like the UK, were once considered to be on the fringes of wine
production.’
South African Regional Trophy winners:
South African Single-Varietal Red over £10
Bellingham The Bernard Series, Bush Vine Pinotage 2010
South African Red Blend over £10
Spice Route Chakalaka 2009
South African Pinot Noir over £10
Chamonix Pinot Noir Reserve 2010
South African Red Bordeaux Varietal over £10
Fleur Du Cap Cabernet Sauvignon Unfiltered 2010
South African Chardonnay over £10
Jordan Nine Yards Chardonnay 2010
South African Red Rhône Varietals over £10
Nederburg Manor House, Shiraz Mourvedre 2010
South African Sweet over £10
Nederburg Private Bin Edelkeur 2008
South African Sweet under £10
Nederburg Winemaker's Reserve Noble Late Harvest 2010
South African Chenin Blanc over £10
Spier 21 Gables Chenin Blanc 2010
South African Sparkling over £10
Villiera Monro Brut 2007
The South African gold medal winners:
Almenkerk Wine Estate Chardonnay 2011
Bouchard Finlayson Kaaimansgat Limited Edition Chardonnay 2010
Cirrus Syrah 2009
Diemersfontein Carpe Diem Pinotage 2010
Eikendal Merlot 2009
Ernie Els Merlot 2010
Ernie Els Proprietor's Syrah 2010
Kasteelberg Shiraz 2010
KWV Cathedral Cellar Chenin Blanc 2011
KWV The Mentors Orchestra 2010
Namaqua Spencer Bay Pinotage 2010
Paul Cluver Chardonnay 2010
Saronsberg Provenance Shiraz 2010
Waterkloof Circle of Life 2010
Zonnebloem A Place in the Sun Shiraz 2011
See all the results here.