Judges

Judging is performed by a panel of experts who are regularly exposed to all the wines from our districts.

The experienced panel initially taste blind to test quality and then rank entrants in the finals where the regional winners compete. The judging is done at Elsenburg Agricultural College and is led by Charl Theron.

“Because it’s all about terroir, the wines are judged according to quality combined with distinctive characteristics created by the soil and climate in the specific area. It was clear that the winemakers did a lot of work with these wines to portray their origin without sacrificing quality. Only the terrain and a dedicated viticulturist and winemaker can produce these results,” Charl Theron

Charl Theron: Technical Coordinator
Lecturer US Tasting Course; part time tutor US Oenology. Regular judge on various panels, including Wine and Spirit Board. First local presenter of accredited course in wine evaluation on the internet, on behalf of the University of Stellenbosch.

2013 panel of judges comprises of seven qualified local experts:

	Carmen Stevens Carmen has many years of experience on various judging panels, including SAA On Board Listing for 5 years in a row, Veritas Wine Awards and SA Young Wine Show for 4 years, WINE magazine for 5 years and Swiss International Airlines. She trained at Elsenburg Agricultural College and qualified from Elsenburg in 1995 as a winemaker. In 1996 she started working as assistant winemaker at Stellenbosch Farmers Winery and in 1998 was appointed as winemaker for Tukulu Wines until 1999. She then started as winemaker at Stellenbosch Vineyards as Welmoed’s site winemaker and in 2005 was appointed winemaker for Amani Vineyards.
	Dave Hughes Dave is an Honourary Cape Wine Master, Life Member of the International Wine and Food Society, international judge (including International Wine and Spirit Competition), a founder of the Cape Wine Academy and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.
	David Biggs David is a well-known wine writer, author of wine related books, taster for Platter’s SA Wines, Veritas Awards judge, qualified wine judge, founder member of the Wine of the Month Club tasting panel.
	Guy Webber Guy has been the winemaker at Stellenzicht since 1998. During this time he established hinself as one of South Africa´s top winemakers with several local and international awards. He has produced six Absa Top 10 Pinotage winners, of which four were consecutive winning entries from Stellenzicht.
	Karen Glanfield Karen has been working in the wine industry for nine years. She completed Diploma 1 and 2 though Cape Wine Academy and have been lecturing for them for their public ad tertiary courses for four years. She also completed and passed the Stellenbosch Judging Course run by Charl Theron, as well as the Wine Tasting Academy run by Michael Fridjhon. She has sat on the panels for the Perold Absa Cape Blend Competition in 2011 and 2012, SA Young Wine Red Blends in 2012 and Classic Wine Sauvignon Blanc in 2011. She also sources and sits on the panel for Classic Wine Buys 8 wines for Classic Wine Magazine.
	Neil Ellis Well known winemaker, wine producer and wine entrepreneur, who has also served on many tasting panels for many years. Neil launched his career in the corporate environment (with KWV, then South Africa’s biggest wine co-operative) before taking up residency at the historic Groot Constantia Estate. Neil then migrated to Zevenwacht, rapidly putting that newly-built cellar on the wine-map. Invariably thought of as an individualist, he started producing wine in 1986 under the Neil Ellis label. In 1993 Neil Ellis and Hans Schroder pooled their talents in a joint venture which has gone from strength to strength. He has been the panel chairman of various categories at the judging of the Veritas Wine Awards and has also served on panels for the SA Young Wine Show. He has been an international judge in Australia and serves on the technical committee of South Africa’s Wine and Spirit Board.
	Irina von Holdt Irina is a Cape Wine Master and wine writer for various publications. She is a regular taster at Veritas as well as a panelist on Wine of the Month Club. She was a taster for Swiss Airlines Awards as well as Rendezvous du Chenin in Fontevraud, France, WINE, SAA and Diners Club and Winemaker of the Year. She founded the Old Vines Wine Cellars and Chenin Blanc Association for which she is a past Chairman and currently still on Exco.

Getting to Anura Vineyards