Plettenberg Bay’s Newstead Wines takes Best Producer Award

Plettenberg Bay winery Newstead Wines has been crowned overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge for the second time in four years, this year winning the award for Best Overall Producer with the Newstead Blanc de Blanc Cap Classique 2017. The same wine also won the competition’s trophy for best wine in the Extended Aging Class for Cap Classique wines eight years and older.

Newstead Wines was crowned Best Overall Producer at the same competition in 2020 with the Newstead Blanc de Blanc 2015, becoming the first winery from outside the traditional Cape winelands to achieve this top Cap Classique accolade.

This is the 23rd consecutive year the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge was held, an event sponsored from the outset by the synonymous cork producer that has been crafting cork stoppers for the international wine industry for over 150 years. Some 131 Cap Classiques were entered for this year’s competition.

Newstead Wines, one of the pioneers of the Plettenberg Bay winelands on the Cape South Coast some 520km east of Cape Town, was founded by Doug and Sue Lund in 2006, with their first wines being made in 2012. This year’s second award going to Newstead as overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge has firmly established Plettenberg Bay as one of the countries leading Cap Classique regions.

In the other categories, the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge Trophy for best scoring Brut Blend went to Cap Classique stalwart producer Villiera in Stellenbosch for the Villiera Monro Brut Cap Classique 2017. Best Rosé was the Graham Beck Pinot Noir Rosé Cap Classique 2018, while De Wetshof Estate in Robertson took the trophy for Best Blanc de Blancs with its De Wetshof Blanc de Blancs 2021. The trophy for Nectar (demi-sec) style was awarded to Simonsig Estate, the pioneers of the Cap Classique industry, for Simonsig Satin Royale Cap Classique n/v

The category for Brut Blends received the most entries in this year’s Amorim Challenge (36), followed by Blanc de Blancs (35), Rosé (33) Nectar (15) and Extended Lees Aging (12).

Speaking at this years Amorim Cap Classique Challenge awards ceremony, Joaquim Sá, MD of Amorim Cork SA, said the Cap Classique Challenge is more than a competition. “It truly is an annual celebration of the wonderful wine category Cap Classique has become since first made in Stellenbosch by Simonsig in 1971,” he said.

“The competition is one where we celebrate the legacy of this category, we honour the quality of the product and its exceptional producers and share a joint vision for the path into the future, which I am sure will be as sparklingly successful as the past has been.”

Sá said that if there is one factor leading him to believe that Cap Classique is one of the strongest categories of traditionally made sparkling wine in the world, it is the diversity of regional terroir expressed throughout the spectrum of Cap Classique wines shown by South Africa’s producers.

“Where many other wines made in a similar style in other countries are limited to using grapes originating from defined areas, Cap Classique producers have access to fruit from a broad palette of terroirs with which to paint their canvas.

“Therefore, in one wine one can find grapes from diverse regions such as Darling, Robertson and Stellenbosch, while another may be made from fruit originating from Elgin, Durbanville and Paarl. By blending the unique flavour profiles offered by these various regions, Cap Classique producers are able to put dynamically crafted products onto the shelf showcasing the wide-ranging diversity of Cape winelands terroir. And in the restless pursuit of uniqueness in Cap Classique, new regions are continuously discovered, as is the case with Newstead Wines’ achievement over the past few years where they have ensured Plettenberg Bay becoming recognised as a major region for Cap Classique excellence.

“Amorim remains committed to this category of South African wine and believes that its integral quality, as underscored each year in the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge, has made it one of the country’s most successful sectors, the quality of which is gaining increasing traction among South African and international consumers.”

The Double Gold (93pts-plus) winners in the year’s Amorim Cap Classique Challenge were:

Blanc de Blancs

De Wetshof Estate Blanc de Blancs 2021

Louisvale Brut N/V

Colmant Blanc de Blancs Reserve N/V

Brut Blends

Villiera Monro Brut 2017

Villiera Tradition Brut N/V

Quoin Rock Black Series 2018

Extended Lees Aging

Newstead Blanc de Blancs 2017

L’Ormarins Private Cuvée 2015