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2023 Diners Club Winemaker Awards winners announced
The winners of the 2023 Diners Club Winemaker and Young Winemaker of the Year Awards have been announced. The black-tie gala dinner at the Five Star Arabella Hotel & Spa on Saturday, 18 November, saw Tertius Boshoff of Stellenrust Wines and Nongcebo Langa of Delheim Wines claiming top trophy honours respectively.
The winners of the 2023 Diners Club Young Winemaker and Winemaker of the Year awards holding their winning wines - Left: Nongcebo Langa (2023 Young Winemaker of the Year) with her 2022 Delheim Gewürztraminer, and Right: Tertius Boshoff (2023 Winemaker of the Year) with his 2020 Stellenrust ArtiSons Blueberry Hill Shiraz.
Diners Club introduced the Winemaker of the Year award to encourage local winemakers to raise the standard of wines produced in South Africa, and the Young Winemaker of the Year award was established to encourage winemakers under the age of 30 to develop their skills, express their individuality, and add to the future prestige of South African wines internationally.
The Winemaker and Young Winemaker awards focus on quality and the recognition of excellence and are among the country’s most prestigious and most respected wine industry competitions. While most wine industry awards focus on the winning wines, the Diners Club Winemaker and Young Winemaker of the Year awards celebrate the creators of the winning wines, honouring the skills and talents of the vintners.
The awards are presented to winemakers who produce a wine that the judging panel considers to be the best in the two specified categories for the annual competition.
This year, the category for the 43rd Winemaker of the Year award was Syrah/Shiraz, with White Wine in the category for the 23rd Young Winemaker of the Year award. As in previous years, winemakers could be shortlisted for more than one submission. These awards are open to all in the South African wine industry at no cost, thus affording all winemakers an equal opportunity.
There were over 180 entries this year, with the field narrowed down to 12 finalists through rigorous judging over two days by a team of wine experts. Six winemakers were shortlisted for the prestigious Winemaker of the Year award, and six were shortlisted for Young Winemaker of the Year. All the judges, comprising Carrie Adams, head Judge; Winnie Bowman; Yegas Naidoo; Shane Mumba; Denzel Swarts and Gregory
Mutambe agreed that it was a close race for the top prizes.
This year’s Diners Club Winemaker of the Year (Category Syrah/Shiraz), Tertius Boshoff delighted the judges with his 2020 Stellenrust ArtiSons Blueberry Hill Shiraz. The 2023 Diners Club Young Winemaker of the Year, Nongcebo Langa, received her award (White Wines Category) for her 2022 Delheim Gewürztraminer.
