A South African brandy has once again conquered the global spirits industry's expert palates and been voted 'Best brandy in the world'.

The accolade went to Laborie Alambic Brandy at the 2010 International Wine & Spirits Competition (IWSC) held in London over the weekend. It brings the number of times a local brandy has triumphed at this event to an astonishing nine times in the past 12 years. It's also the fourth consecutive year one of the country's brandies has ruled the roost.

“Shocked, but absolutely delighted,” is how KWV brandy master distiller Kobus Gelderblom described his reaction to the news. “Shocked, because we were expecting our other traditionally top-performing brandies such as the KWV 15 Year Old or the KWV 20 Year Old, both of which have been gold medalists at leading competitions this year and previously voted 'Best Brandy in the World', to get the nod. But delighted because it's an estate brandy made in extremely limited quantities from grapes grown on Laborie, our Paarl wine estate.”

Gelderblom was also pleased with the result because it vindicates his passion for and belief in pinotage as a variety from which to distill fine brandy. This particular Laborie Alambic, a five-year-old pure potstill, is an unusual blend of mainly chardonnay with a touch of pinotage matured in old red wine oak barrels.

“The chardonnay gives structure, the pinotage adds wonderful peach and apricot aromas and flavours, and the whole was touched up with a bit of 10-year-old brandy to add complexity to the final blend,” explains the master blender.

The IWSC is generally regarded as an international benchmark test of technical excellence and stylistic quality of the world's finest wines and spirits. Tasting is blind and conducted by panels of experts with world-class knowledge of the particular category and style they're called upon to judge.

Says Riaan Marais, chairman of the South African Brandy Foundation: “KWV, already an icon among South African brandies - this is the sixth time KWV has won this award - is part and parcel of the shining future of our local brandies. And it's especially heartwarming to see this particular brandy, probably one of the KWV's less well-known products, be thus honoured.”

South African brandies overall put in a remarkable performance at this year's IWSC. All of the 31 products entered achieved either a gold (12) or a silver (19) medal. Veteran international wine and spirits judge, South Africa's Dave Hughes says, “From among nearly 100 brandy entries, only 13 won gold medals.

The only other country to win gold, with just one brandy deemed worthy of gold, was Spain. Among the 12 South African gold medallists, six were voted best in their class and of the 19 silver medallists, three were tops in their category.

Besides the Laborie Alambic, the other South African brandies to win gold (and be voted best in their class) were Flight of the Fish Eagle, Oude Meester Souverein 18 Year Old, Oude Meester VSOB, Van Ryn's 12 Year Old Distillers Reserve, Van Ryn's 15 Year Old Fine Cask Reserve, Oude Molen Solera Grand Reserve and Uitkyk Grand Reserve 10 Year Old Estate Brandy.

The other gold medallists included the KWV 15 Year Old, KWV Imoya VSOP, Oude Meester Reserve 12 Year Old and Klipdrift Export.

The Laborie Alambic's accolade, and the exceptional showing in general of South Africa's brandies at the 2010 IWSC, crowns a year of spectacular show results for South Africa's most popular spirit (about 45-million litres of brandy is made here each vintage, comprising nearly half of the total local spirits market).

Sourced by SA - The Good News