FOR the first time ever, the International Wine & Spirits Competition will be judging South African wines in South Africa - at the Grande Roche Hotel in Paarl.
“Three years ago we were looking to expand the competition and decided to judge American wines in America – a sort of a Mohammed going to the mountain kind of thing – and it worked really well. It was expensive, logistically, but the costs were more than covered since we doubled our entry,” says Frances Horder, competitions director of IWSC.
The IWSC is very cognisant of the strength of the rand and the pressure that local wine producers are under with regard to containing expenses – and international wine competition entries is one of those, Horder said.
“The entry fee doesn’t change, but it does mean that the only transport costs involved are those of getting the samples to the Grande Roche in Paarl rather than shipping them overseas.”
Entries close on 1 July. Class winners will be shipped to the UK. For information and entry forms, visit www.iwsc.co.uk.
