We at Spice Route are proud to announce that two of our wines and three wines from our sister winery, Fairview, featured in the Michelangelo CCL Label International Wine Awards 2011 line up.

A panel of 15 international judges from countries including South Africa, France, Australia, Italy and Argentina tasted a total of 1385 wines from 226 producers before awarding a total of 475 medals at a gala luncheon at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West on the 9th of September 2011.

La Beryl Rouge 2010, Goat Roti 2009 and the Spice Route Malabar 2007 received Gold awards whilst the Fairview Beacon 2007 and Spice Route Malabar 2006 received Silver awards.

Show stopping Shiraz is the name of the game here at Fairview with our Shiraz based wines showing really well!

The La Beryl Rouge, which won gold, is named after Charles Back’s late mother and is a 100% Shiraz sweetie with a residual sugar of 151.6g/l.

The Gold winning Goat Roti features Shiraz co-fermented with Viognier which softens and elaborates the tannin and gives a slight fragrant lift to the wine.

The Beacon Shiraz comes from a small section of unirrigated bush vines whose roots must claw their way deep beneath the rock in search of moisture and nutrients. After a radical heat wave at the end of January 2007 these Shiraz grapes had to really fight hard and this award is testimony to their tenacity and the skill of our winemakers.

The Spice Route Malabar 2006 and 2007, both of which were made in the dedicated Malabar cellar, feature an exotic blend which includes a substantial amount of Syrah blended with Mourvedre, Grenache, Tannat and the little known Petite Sirah, whose tiny berries offer wonderful plumy flavours to the wine.

Only 30% of the wines entered into the Michelangelo International Wine Awards competition may be awarded medals so we are especially proud of our achievements.