KWV brandy voted best in the world

10 Jul 2015

KWV won the Best Brandy & Cognac Producer in the world title earlier this week at the 2015 International Spirit Challenge (ISC) function in London. It was the first time in the ISC's 20-year history that a brandy that is not a cognac has won. KWV's 20-year-old brandy also received the Best Brandy in the World Trophy and the Grand Champion accolade, outscoring Cognac and international brandies, after being judged the favourite of the nine Gold Medal winners by the tasting judges.

Trophies for the world's winning spirits, best distilleries and producers were awarded at a function held at the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), London.

The ISC is recognised as the most respected and influential spirits competition in the world promoting outstanding quality spirits from around the globe. The competition, which this year had more than 1000 entries from nearly 70 countries worldwide, is founded on a rigorous and independent judging process.

The ISC Tasting Awards involve a highly controlled operation held over seven days of intense blind tastings by panels of more than 50 respected and experienced industry professionals who assess products according to their age, region and variety. Each product is blind tasted and awarded a score for its aroma, appearance, taste and finish.

A historic moment

On receiving the accolades, KWV Master Distiller Pieter de Bod, said that winning an ISC medal is an outstanding achievement and underlines KWV's commitment to quality and innovation. "Winning World's Best Producer is an historic moment for KWV and the greatest accolade we could achieve as a South African producer, beating international brandy and cognac producers."

He continued: "We are also very proud of the Global Grand Champion Award. Producing an award-winning brandy like this is a real team effort. Each team member knows how important quality and innovation are in our process, and it is this that has enabled us to create an extraordinary blend. This potstill brandy was blended last year and we started off with about 30 different batches of brandy between the age of 20 and 32 years old. The final blend of six special selected different batches was matured for an extra three months to marry and mellow to its full character."

KWV also received three Silvers for its 15, 12 and 10-year-old brandies in the 2015 ISC awards.

For more information, go to www.finishgreat.co.za or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter @KWVBrandy #FINISHGREAT.