A wooded white wine blend of Chardonnay and Colombar from Badsberg in the Breedekloof near Worcester, has won the prestigious General Smuts Trophy as overall SA Champion Young Wine for 2021, after also being awarded the trophy for the best South African white wine blend at the SA Young Wine Show. It was the fourth time that Badsberg walks away with the formidable General Smuts Trophy as overall winner, having also achieved this with a wooded Ruby Cabernet, in 2020, with a wooded Pinotage in 2016 and a Natural Sweet Wine in 2009. Badsberg thereby joins four other producers to win the General Smuts Trophy in successive years since the inception of this icon Trophy in 1952. DF Malan won the General Smuts Trophy in 1956 and 1957, Nederburg won it four times in a row from 1967 to 1970, Faure and Faure also won four years in a row from 1971 to 1974 and Klein Constantia won it twice in 1988 and 1989. This annual show for wines of the current vintage year is presented by the SA National Wine Show Association (SANWSA) in collaboration with Agri-Expo. It is the first time in the competition’s 189-year existence, the oldest of its kind in the world, that a white wine blend clinches the top award, this year as the 70th winner of the General Smuts Trophy. The competition’s 19 SA Champion trophies in total – including the Pietman Hugo Trophy for the best points achieved with five entries –were announced today (30 August) at a function with a limited number of guests in the Johann Graue Hall at Nederburg. The customary gala dinner for the hand-over of trophies, was not held this year as a result of the Covid-19 realities. Altogether 45 wines achieved Class Winner status and 73 received Gold Medals. The Pietman Hugo Trophy, which is awarded to the winery scoring the highest total points for its best five wines, was clinched by Spier Wines of Stellenbosch. The total entries were up substantially from last year, which showed a decrease due to the Covid-19 limitations. The judges were unanimous that the quality standard of the young wines of 2021 was outstanding, thanks to a much later and cooler vintage.