Worldwide Brandy trophy comes to South Africa
The House of Van Ryn’s near Stellenbosch has been awarded the Worldwide Brandy trophy at The International Wine and Spirit Competition.
POTSTILL brandy, from The House of Van Ryn’s, near Stellenbosch, has been awarded the Worldwide Brandy trophy at The International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC), in London.
The Van Ryn’s 12-year-old Distiller’s Reserve has laid claim to the title of best Worldwide Brandy for the fourth time in 11 years. It was last awarded to this fine product three years ago.
The award can be attributed to Van Ryn’s Master Distiller, Marlene Bester, who has custodianship of the Van Ryn’s cellars and decides which young brandies will benefit from further aging.
“Van Ryn’s continues to build on our founder Jan van Ryn’s philosophy of excellence in maturation; we produce relatively small quantities of brandy and everything is done by hand, with careful attention to detail to keep our standards high,” she said.
The House of Van Ryn’s has won the IWSC Worldwide Brandy trophy six times in the past 11 years. The pinnacle of the range is the Van Ryn’s AU.RA, a potstilled brandy with components aged for up to 40 years.
”South Africans can be justifiably proud of our liquid gold products, fine potstilled brandies created from grapes grown in our sunny conditions, double-distilled and then aged to perfection before being masterfully blended,” said Distell Brandy ambassador Nick Holdcroft.
The IWSC is the premier competition of its kind on the international stage and aims to promote the quality and excellence of the world’s best wines, spirits and liqueurs.
Entries are put through a rigorous two-stage judging process of professional blind tasting and detailed analysis. The IWSC competition is unique in that all medal winners are subjected to technical analysis before results are released.
For Bester, the IWSC Worldwide Brandy trophy is one of the best rewards any Master Distiller could ask for. “It confirms that we are doing the right thing and spreads the word that South Africa is producing exceptional brandies of worldwide esteem,” she explained.
