Gold rush for Boland Cellar
Boland Cellar cemented its reputation as one of the top wine producers in the Paarl region when it received four gold, eight silver and seven bronze medals at the prestigious 2011 Veritas Awards. This came on top of the cellar being awarded three Class winners, including a Gold medal for their 2008 Shiraz, at the International Wine Challenge held earlier this month in London.
Two wines from the popular single vineyard Boland Cellar Reserve range were awarded gold medals. The 2009 Boland Cellar Reserve Pinotage received a gold after also recently being awarded 4 ½ stars by Wine magazine. The 2009 Boland Cellar Reserve Merlot also were awarded a gold, following in the footsteps of the 2008 vintage that were awarded gold at the 2011 Michelangelo Wine Awards. Boland Cellar winemaker Bernard Smuts ascribes the exceptional quality of these wines to the decades invested in identifying top quality single vineyards to produce the grapes needed for the vinification of truly magnificent single vineyard wines. Both reds were fermented naturally and bottled unfiltered. This resulted in a more natural, less manipulated expression of the cultivar, terroir and season.
The Boland Five Climates Merlot 2001 collected its sixth award with the 2011 Veritas gold. Over the past ten years, this exceptional wine received gold medals at the 2007 Concours Mondial de Bruxelles, the 2004 Veritas, the 2004 Vino Ljubljana, a Grand D’Or at the Concours Mondial de Bruxelles 2004 as well as gold at the 2001 South African National Wine Show 2001 and a Prestige Trophy Citadelles du Vin in France in 2004. “We are thrilled with the amazing track record of this wine in particular, but also with our Five Climate Range in general. We believe that Boland Cellar has managed to set itself apart as a regional specialist with an intimate knowledge of the region and its many different micro-climates, soils and aspects. The diversity in the region allows the winemaking team to achieve product differentiation and added complexity through the masterful blending of wines from the different zones, thus crafting fruit-driven New World wines with a real sense of place,” says Smuts.
The fourth gold went to the 1996 Boland Cellar White Muscadel made from hand-picked grapes from the foothills of the Drakenstein mountain. Silver medals were awarded to the 2011 Boland Cellar Five Climates Chenin Blanc, the 2008 and 2010 Boland Cellar Reserve Merlot, the 2010 Boland Cellar Reserve Pinotage, the 2009 Boland Cellar Reserve Shiraz, the 1998 and 1999 Boland White Muscadel as well as the 1999 Boland Cabernet Sauvignon.
