With the awards season in full swing, Perdeberg Cellar, situated in the triangle of Paarl, Durbanville and Swartland, has reaffirmed its status as one of South Africa’s leading Chenin Blanc producers.
Known as the Home of Chenin Blancä, this accreditation expands to the international arena with the industry-acclaimed publication, the Drinks Business, awarding the 2021 Endura Single Vineyard Chenin Blanc and 2022 The Dry Land Collection Courageous Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc (Old Vine) Gold medals, respectively, in this year’s Global Chenin Blanc Masters competition. The 2020 Vineyard Collection Cap Classique Chenin Blanc (Old Vine) was awarded Silver. The competition identifies the best Chenin Blancs from around the world in every price category.
On the local front 2022 The Dry Land Collection Courageous Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc (Old Vine) continued to shine at the 2023 SA Terroir Wine Awards, where it was named the Paarl District region winner in the Certified Heritage Vineyard: Natural Wine category. The competition has its origin thanks to the Wine of Origin (WO) scheme’s system of single-vineyard, estate, and ward, this also being the foundation of the competition. South Africa’s WO scheme is recognised globally as a leading system aimed at verifying the integrity of the wine in the bottle and confirming claims made on the label.
And what would a successful award season be without recognition from revered UK authority Tim Atkin MW, in his highly anticipated annual review of South African wines? Sampling a total of 2 205 wines from 419 wineries to write his 11th annual overview, Perdeberg Cellar was awarded 90 + for the following wines
| 2021 | Endura Single Vineyard Chenin Blanc (91 points) |
| 2020 | Endura Winemaker’s Selection Cape Blend (90 points) |
| 2021 | The Dry Land Collection Rossouw’s Heritage (91 points) |
| 2023 | The Vineyard Collection Grenache Blanc (90 points) |
Tim was remarkably impressed by the quality of the wines he tasted this year, in particular the vintages ranging from 2017 to 2021, with special mention of the 2017 vintage, which he feels deserves its place among the best-ever harvests. Not too far behind was the 2021 vintage, especially when it came to the white wines, which he felt the best examples had incredible energy and vivacity with a long life ahead of them. More on Tim’s report available here: https://timatkin.com/reports/
“Although Chenin Blanc stood out this year, both locally and internationally, we are blown away by the quality of our other varietals and blends, which are coming up in the ranks. A testament to our commitment to producing wines of world-class quality,” says Cellarmaster Albertus Louw.
