This year, for the first time, Tonnellerie Berthomieu / Ermitage and its local agent, Johan Conradie de Vinventions, sponsored the Veritas Vertex award, with a trip to France for the winning winemaker. 1491 wines and brandy were represented this year in the competition. The jury of international and local judges awarded 76 double gold medals, 198 gold medals, 219 exceptional silver medals, 599 silver medals and 322 bronze medals. Among the double gold medals, the jury decided to award the Veritas Vertex prize to Domaine Des Dieux for the 2015 Des Dieux Chardonnay wine.
In this region of Cape Town, the first South African harvest took place in the middle of the 17th century when the Dutch East India Company established a trading post there on the route to the Indies to supply ships with food, water and wine. Viticulture did not really take off until about twenty years later when more than 200 Protestants, mostly winegrowers, fleeing France following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, landed in Cape Town in 1688. The new arrivals then settled about fifty kilometers east of Cape Town on land suitable for viticulture which will be baptized Franschhoek (“The French corner”, in Afrikaans) by the governor of Cape Town.
Find here the rest of the Veritas Awards.
Photo: Nuno Cadete (Tonnellerie Berthomieu / Ermitage), Megan and Shane Mullis (Domaine Des Dieux), Johan Conradie (Vinventions)
