.: The Veritas Awards 2019 dinner at the CTICC

This year's Veritas Wine Awards dinner was held in the Ballroom at the Cape Town International Convention Centre last Friday night and was a huge success. The format worked so well, the awards went quickly and smoothly, the food was really excellent this year and the entertainment was rather special. It is a black tie event and people really had dressed beautifully

Broadcaster Guy McDonald and his wife Bronwen with journalist Norman McFarlane

We think we have persuaded Guy to wear his dress kilt in future. There are two winemakers who wear theirs each year

Blaauwklippen winemaker Narina Cloete and L'Re Burger of Ernie Els Wines

Chef Christophe Dehosse, who was responsible for the excellent main course and Karin Visser CWM, Wine Negociant

MC Bennie Howard CWM made the evening just speed past in a very good way. To see all this year’s results To see all this year's results, click here: https://veritas.co.za and you can book to come and taste the top wines at the Veritas Public Tastings tasting in Cape Town on 25th October 2019, Johannesburg 29th October, Durban 6th November and Port Elizabeth 13th November 2019

SA Litho is one of the sponsors

Christo Pienaar (Chairman of SANWSA) made the opening speech. He told us that they have now fully adapted to the 100 point scoring system which has become the international standard for competitions. Therefore 96 and above would be Platinum; 93 to 95 Double Gold; 90 to 92 Gold; (something new) 86 to 89 Silver enhanced; 80 to 85 Silver; and 65 to 79 Bronze. The judges all sit in cubicles and taste blind

Wineries only enter their best wines each year

Another new item: All the 70 double golds are retasted and one wine which rises to the top is called the Vertex wine

Veritas presents the Living Legends award to honour those men and women who made a major contribution to the industry during their lifetime. Christo Pienaar, with two of this year’s worthy recipients, former Springbok rugby stars and legendary winemakers Gerhard "Hempies" du Toit and Jan "Boland" Coetzee

This year's wine industry luminaries – Jan Boland Coetzee, Kiffie de Wet, Hempies du Toit, Johan Rossouw, Kobus Rossouw, Eugene van Zyl and Gyles Webb – received Living Legends honorary scrolls for their immeasurable contributions to South African wine and brandy

Spier Cellarmaster Frans Smit, celebrating with Jan Boland Coetzee and Hempies du Toit

The menu for dinner.

The starter by Chef Michael Broughton of Terroir Restaurant on Kleine Zalze was fresh and delicious. A fine potato, apple and chive salad, topped with hot smoked salmon pastrami and a radish and pea shoot relish, dressed with parsley oil, was much enjoyed by everyone to whom we spoke

The main course was a triumph of tender duck breast, a spiced duck roulade, accompanied by a smooth carrot puree, seared king oyster mushroom slices. And four Brussels sprouts. This was in a rich and unctuous sauce Diable, which is a rich brown stock with the addition of tomato, wine, vinegar, shallots, tarragon and pepper. The chef was Christophe Dehosse who is in charge of the restaurants on two wine estates - the Vine Bistro at Glenelly and the Bistro at Joostenberg. We heard that he supervised the CTICC chefs and they had to debone at least 50 ducks