Sauvignon Blanc South Africa and FNB are pleased to announce the top 20 contenders in the 2019 FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 Competition, South Africa's only competition exclusively devoted to Sauvignon blanc.
A total of 107 producers submitted 183 wines – up from 177 last year – for this year’s competition, held for the eighth year by Sauvignon Blanc SA in collaboration with FNB.
This year’s top 20 finalists are well represented by the country’s diverse wine growing regions with five out of the six regions in the Western Cape delivering at least one top-performing wine. Twelve of the top 20 wines are from the 2019 vintage, confirming the industry general consensus that this year was an outstanding year for Sauvignon Blanc. Six out of the 20 wines have had some degree of oak contact (four of which are 2019 vintage) showing the potential for thoughtful use of oak.
In alphabetical order, the final contenders are:
- Alvi's Drift Signature Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Bellevue Estate Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- D'Aria Songbird Sauvignon Blanc 2018
- De Grendel Koetshuis Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Diemersdal Winter Ferment Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Domaine Des Dieux Sauvignon Blanc 2016
- Strandveld First Sighting Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Fleur Du Cap Series Privee Sauvignon Blanc 2017
- Cederberg Ghost Corner Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Iona Elgin Highlands Sauvignon Blanc 2018
- Kleine Zalze Family Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Du Toitskloof Land's End Sauvignon Blanc 2018
- Lomond Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Merwida Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Nitida Golden Orb Sauvignon Blanc 2018
- Groote Post Seasalter Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Spier Ideology Sauvignon Blanc 2019
- Stark-Conde Round Mountain Sauvignon Blanc 2018
- Tierhoek Piekenierskloof South Africa Sauvignon Blanc 2018
- Tokara Reserve Collection Elgin Sauvignon Blanc 2019
The judging panel comprised Dr Winifred Bowman, Cape Wine Master and convenor of the panel, Charles Hopkins of De Grendel, Dr Carien Coetzee of Basic Wine, wine judge and writer Fiona McDonald as well as Wilhelm Pienaar of Hermanuspietersfontein. The panel also included trainee judges Ben Snyman of Overhex Wines, Chandre Petersen of Flagstone Winery, Morgan Steyn of De Grendel and Rudger van Wyk of Starke-Conde Wines.
The Top 10 winners will be announced at the FNB Sauvignon Blanc Top 10 gala awards dinner on Wednesday 9 October at the FNB Portside building in Cape Town. A technical seminar based on this year's performance is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 20 November in Franschhoek.
