About the Show
The Trophy Wine Show brought to you by Investec is South Africa’s premier wine competition, identifying the very best Cape wines, recognising the achievements of the country’s winemakers, and honouring excellence in the wine industry.
As the headline sponsor, Investec is excited to be part of a competition that sifts (and sips) through close to 800 wines to identify SA’s best. Investec’s support of the competition – recognising the rigour which goes into the show’s judging methodology – makes it possible for the show’s organisers to assemble the best judges to share their expertise, both through the results and the feedback session which follows the judging.
A leading private bank and wealth manager, locally and internationally, Investec believes the Trophy Wine Show is a wonderful platform to celebrate excellence in the industry.
Moreover, the event will engage discerning and sophisticated wine enthusiasts across the country. Investec looks forward to the opportunity to present the top wines to its niche clients and the public alike.
The Show’s rules and guidelines are detailed in the entry kit and cover certification requirements, the market-readiness of the wines and the composition of the blends.
The 2025 Show results will be announced mid-June. Results will be available immediately on The Trophy Wine Show website and within 24 hours wines will be sold via Port2Port, South Africa’s biggest online fine wine market place.
The judging panel has been chaired by leading wine authority Michael Fridjhon since the inception of the show. The panel comprises three international and six local judges covering a broad range of expertise.
A team of associate panelists is drawn from the pool of rising South African wine-making, wine marketing and wine-writing talent who qualified via the Wine Judging Academy, run in conjunction with the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.
The participation of the associates ensures that the next generation of the country’s wine judges gains experience in this most rigorous of environments. Usually, a different associate judge sits with each panel on each of the medal-judging days of the show. They participate in the tasting and the post-judging discussion, though their scores are not necessarily taken into account in the final tally.
Event partner Riedel enjoys naming rights in respect of some of the trophies. Since the 2010 event, the Chenin Blanc trophy has been named after the late Harold Eedes, who, as publisher of Wine Magazine in the 1990s, played a key role in South Africa’s Chenin Blanc renaissance. In 2012 the Trophy for Best Cape Port was named after the late Tony Mossop CWM. In 2020 the Rosa Kruger Trophy for Best Old Vine wine was introduced, to honour the extraordinary work done by Rosa Kruger in identifying and cataloguing our heritage sites, and in making it possible for the Old Vine category to grow and to flourish. The Vinolok Trophy, introduced in 2022, is presented to the highest-scoring premium-priced gold medallist.
