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CE’s Top 20 SA Wineries 2014

By , 24 April 2014

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Top of the pops.

Top of the pops.

Wine writer Tim James recently conducted a poll to establish a top 20 list of wine producers in South Africa as he has done on an occasional basis since 2001. 29 local and international wine professionals were consulted and the results are available here.

My nominations were as follows:

Five best wineries

Boekenhoutskloof

Kanonkop

Mullineux Family Wines

Sadie Family Wines

Tokara (in the final list but outside the top five)

Next 15

Cape Point Vineyards

Cederberg

Chamonix (5th in overall top five)

Delaire Graff

De Trafford

Hamilton Russell Vineyards

Jordan

Klein Constantia

Meerlust

Newton Johnson Vineyards

Paul Cluver

Rustenberg (not in the final list)

Stark-Condé (not in the final list)

Thelema

Vergelegen

In summary, 18 of my nominations in the final list (84 put forward altogether), the two wineries I didn’t back being AA Badenhorst Family Wines and Reyneke Wines.

Comments

3 comment(s)

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    Derek Prout-Jones | 24 April 2014

    I would have included Rustenberg as well Christian…fabulous history and their wines continue to impress (some).
    I am not really sure what the criteria is or should be in choosing the top? Wineries?? Is it winemaker or wine/s…depth or breadth or both? Newbie vs veteran. It’s almost easier to choose a top wine because the criteria can be more narrowly defined.
    I have no issue with the names on the list…it’s more about those left off! So many to mention. Of course there needs to be winners in any comp, but the concept of choosing a “winery” is a very broad one IMHO.

      Christian | 24 April 2014

      Hi Derek, The exercise is obviously fraught with difficulty but my two primary concerns were to acknowledge 1) track record (it seems sensible to me that a winery should have completed at least five vintages before taking a view on pedigree) and 2) “X-factor”, which is to say the intensity of interest that a producer’s wine portfolio taken as a whole generates.

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