Bitou boasts best bubbly

PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - A Plettenberg Bay winery's latest award has cemented the region – a relatively new kid on the block in terms of wine producing – as a wine-making hotspot.

Newstead Lund Family Vineyards recently became the first producer outside of the traditional Western Cape winelands to be crowned overall winner of the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge,

South Africa's leading competition focused exclusively on selecting the country's top methode cap classique (MCC) sparkling wines. MCC is a generic term for sparkling wine produced according to the French Champagne method.

In a groundbreaking announcement, Newstead MCC Blanc de Blanc 2015 not only took a double-gold medal and the trophy for best blanc de blanc, but was also named the top-scoring MCC at this year's competition.

121 entries
This was the 19th consecutive year the Amorim Cap Classique Challenge was held and some 121 entries were received for this year's competition.

According to Heidi Duminy, convenor of the judging panel for this year's challenge, the blanc de blanc category was the stand-out segment in this year's competition, winning a total of five double-gold medals.

""he award for this year's overall winner, given to the wine that achieved the highest accumulated score from the five judges, is sure to herald in a new era of recognition for the Plettenberg Bay wine region," Duminy said.

Newstead, founded in 2006 by Doug and Sue Lund, is however no newcomer when it comes to accolades. At the 2014 Michelangelo Awards, Newstead won a Gran D'or (double-gold) for their first-ever MCC Brut Chardonnay.

In 2016, the estate won a second Gran D'or, this time for their rosé bubbly. In 2017, Newstead once again won a double-gold for their second MCC Brut Chardonnay. In 2019, they won a double-gold for their third MCC Brut Chardonnay, as well as a double-gold for their third rosé MCC.

Their sauvignon blanc and chardonnay have also been awarded at previous Michelangelo Awards, and their Brut MCC Blanc de Blanc scored 95 in the International Wine and Spirits competition (IWSC), one of three South African sparkling wines to be awarded gold – and one of 500 wines to win gold worldwide.

Doug and Sue Lund of Newstead Lund Family Vineyards have reason to celebrate after winning the top award in South Africa for their MCC Blanc de Blanc 2015 sparkling wine.

Other producers
Newstead is not the only wine farm with an array of feathers in its cap. Over the past two decades the area's 18 producers have raked in many awards including the area's first producer, Bramon, which has won many national and international awards winning two double gold Gran d'Ors in one year alone.

It was also Bramon that started it all in Plettenberg Bay. The first grapes were planted by local Peter Thorpe in 2000 after realising that his property, the Bramon Estate in the Crags, had the correct soil, slope and climate for starting a vineyard.

The rest is history. Others started joining him and today the area boasts the country's most easterly cultivars stretching 57km along the coast from Packwood in Harkerville to Lodestone on the Redford Road in the Crags.