Daan Coetzee, General Manager of Doolhof Wine Estate, attended the Veritas Awards function on 8 October in Cape Town and reported as follows:

The annual Veritas Award dinner is arguably one of the social highlights in the Cape Winelands calendar. The function last Friday was no exception. To see winemakers, grape producers, viticulturists, marketers and managers who are normally seen in shorts, wine-stained shirts and Rossi boots, all dressed up in evening suits and the ladies resplendent in evening gowns, is indeed a treat in itself.

The fact that the invitations to the event specify the dress for the evening as “Formal” says something about the standard of the event itself. The ever so dapper MC, Bennie Howard who sets the tone in his evening suit, commented jokingly on young winemakers going to the podium to collect their medals without ties and jackets.

The Veritas competition celebrated its 20th anniversary this year and to mark the occasion, South African Brandy was entered as a new class in the judging, and won quite a few golds and double golds.

As always, the event was meticulously planned and the execution on the evening was faultless. The food for the 850 guests was served by an army of waiting staff, so that my main course of medium -rare fillet of beef was still piping hot when it was placed in front of me.

This year Doolhof won one of the 64 Double Golds awarded to wines in this year’s competition. The winning wine was the Doolhof Signatures of Doolhof Merlot 2007. This particular Merlot did very well in the Veritas competition, not only as a direct entrant, but also by association. In 2009, Doolhof’s The Minotaur 2007, a red blend, won a Double Gold Veritas medal, and one of the components of this red blend was the same Merlot, which obviously contributed to the success of The Minotaur and which was also awarded four stars in Platter and a gold medal in the 2009 Michelangelo International Wine Awards.