International accolade for local dessert wine
Namibian wine farm Neuras announced that their Ruby dessert wine has been awarded a prestigious Double Gold at the Michelangelo International Wine Awards. According to Rudie van Vuuren, co-founder of the N/a’an ku sê conservation foundation and owner of Neuras Winery, they are the first wine farm in Namibia to receive such an award.The 28th edition of the annual Michelangelo International Wine and Spirit Awards took place in Cape Town on 30 August. These are considered one of the most prestigious wine awards in the world and Africa’s largest wine and spirits competition.
Competition entries go through a rigorous and diverse judging process.
The judging of the wines took place from 22 to 26 July and the jury consisted of 24 judges – 17 international and seven South African experts – led by Dr Winnie Bowman (technical director).
Neuras Wine and Wildlife Estate, the second driest wine farm in the world, is located in the foothills of the Naukluft Mountains, on the edge of the Namib Desert, just 80 km from Sossusvlei.
This is notable because of the dry and sandy conditions in which these 14 500 hectares of grapes grow.
Braam Gericke, winemaker at Neuras, shared that everything in the winemaking process is done by hand, from harvesting the organically grown grapes to bottling and packaging the wines. Together with his 23 employees, they wake up early in the morning to harvest up to 15 tonnes of grapes per year. "This is where I fell in love with making wine again," Gericke said. When receiving the award, he said: "For me, this is a proud moment. I am happy to be part of this journey."