Zonnebloem Laureat 2007 disqualified

The organisers of the Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show have announced the disqualification and withdrawal of the Zonnebloem Laureat 2007 which was awarded a gold medal at the 2010 competition. The reason given is that the blend components do not comply with the Show rules. The Zonnebloem Laureat was entered in the Bordeaux-blend class, where the only permitted cultivars are the internationally recognised Bordeaux varieties viz. Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

It was revealed - only after the judging - that some barrels of Shiraz had been included in the final blend. Although the Shiraz component was significantly under 5%, the show's rules are explicit with the regard to the authorised varieties.

 

Show chairman, Michael Fridjhon, who made the discovery having read an interview with a member of the wine-making team - in which the presence of a "dollop of Shiraz" was disclosed - commented that the disqualification and withdrawal of the wine was automatic. "The rules governing the Bordeaux-blend class are very clear," he said. "We noticed several years ago that the presence of a small percentage of Shiraz in the Bordeaux-blend submissions gave a marked advantage to those entries. Accordingly, we wrote the rules to make it clear that the presence of any non-Bordeaux cultivar was prohibited." He added that while the intrinsic quality of the wine was indisputable, compliance with the rules of the show was paramount.

None of the entry forms completed by the producer revealed the presence of the Shiraz, nor was it recorded in any of the statutory documentation required for wine certification. "However," said Fridjhon, "once I drew the company's attention to the statement in the interview, there was full cooperation in respect of our investigation and the wine has been withdrawn."

The Old Mutual Trophy Wine Show is a national annual competition that seeks to identify the top wines in South Africa. It is one of the toughest wine competitions that recognises excellence in the South African wine industry. Wealth-management company Old Mutual has sponsored the competition since its inception in 2002, on the basis that it sees value in collaborating with a process that discovers the country's top wines and producers, and that makes this information available to the wine drinking public. The audited results are available on www.trophywineshow.co.za